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Smack

verb; to hit someone or something forcefully with the fat inside part of your hand, producing a short loud noise, especially as a way of punishing a child

to stop. How many smacks would I have to give him to get it to work? And how hard?”

Another way?

According to Murray Straus, smacking can never be a long-term strategy. He says, “Spanking becomes less and less effective over time, and when children get bigger, it becomes diffcult or impossible.” He says that most parents who choose not to smack don’t just sit back and ignore their offspring’s troublesome behaviour. Instead, they rely on a range of other strategies, such as explaining things to the child, setting clear standards and recognising and rewarding good behaviour. “There is no magic charm,” he says. “It takes many interactions and many repetitions to bring up children.” Parenting is certainly no easy job, and choosing whether to smack is one of its most contentious issues. The debate is flled with conficting reports and opposing ideologies: depending on who you believe, you can either spare the rod and spoil the child, or kill a child with kindness. Parents are categorised as passive or aggressive, woolly liberals or dedicated disciplinarians, hitters or huggers. But most parents fall somewhere in the middle, muddling through, trying their best, and hoping they are doing a good enough job of raising the next generation, whether, after careful consideration, they choose the carrot or the stick.

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