Thank snake, & thank heavens I don't drink.

If they treat their speedsters the same way, it might even slow me down.

Yes it may actually be a bit excessive, but it keeps potential muggers off the street.

We live in a paradoxical age, trumpeting human rights, religious freedoms and abhorrence of violence, pursuing diplomacy, freedom of information and transparency to the 'n'th degree - all the while within a kaleidoscopic world of violence and uncertainty.

No-one knows when the next terrorist will attack, or where or why. We have transport police and electronic screening, and screening for weapons and 'radicals' at high profile events; we have drug wars and drive-by shootings, and Wall Street thieves - and it was only ordinary people taking matters into their own hands which prevented an aircraft obliterating the White House on 9/11.

Our courts are lenient, we outlaw capital punishment and 'rehabilitate' psychopaths, our jails are relatively 'leisure centres' for habitual criminals (and educational institutions for young offenders), and people use every possible excuse to wriggle out of taking personal responsibility for their actions. An age of credible denial.

There was a time when school masters used the cane to stop persistent offenders from disrupting school and classroom, when police 'corrected' unacceptable behaviour by youths (with most not needing a second lesson), and kids had respect for their elders (and would get a swift clip if they didn't). Open hand smacking, no strap, spoon or ruler, provided a mild but memorable rebuke to a very badly behaved child, by parent or relative, and rarely by responsible bystander - but of course nothing succeeds so well as plain good parenting.

Now we have people provoking the police (go on, hit me pig) and crying foul if they cop it (origin of 'copping it'?), binge drinking and carrying on like idiots, bullying, being stupid on the internet and reveling in personal freedoms. In parts mobs throw molotov cocktails and destroy personal property in pursuit of those 'freedoms'.

In Aus we have some of the highest urban costs and standards of living in the world, and some of the lowest living standards in remote communities; elswhere Shiite bombs and kills Sunni, Somalies starve, and human slavery persists. We live in a paradox - and smacking may be a lost virtue.

Pericles.... Post hoc ergo propter hoc, actually is Latin

"When I was isolated and without family, for a brief moment I accepted the belief that children could be smacked with wooden spoons here. I announced this to my children but they very quickly broke every wooden spoon in the house and hid them, so when I did reach out for them they were missing."

I wonder how that approach to property and avoiding consequences will translate into adult life? Perhaps the children will get the idea of boundaries somewhere but that little anecdote tells part of the story.

I've never been a fan of the use of implements. Way to easy to do real harm both from a leverage factor and from not feeling the smack yourself. Of course it might be dangerous to announce that you'll give your kid's a smack with your hand with some kid's. Wooden spoons can be replaced.

Smacking may be a sign of failure, a really skilled driver might avoid a crash that most can't avoid so in that sense airbag's and seat belts could be considered a sign of failure. Still useful to have around.

R0bert

The confusion comes from the difference between "belting" and a "clip", on the calf muscle.

No smacking leads to rudeness, vandalism and lack respect...........

Cheers,

Ralph

Paradoxes galore, Saltpetre. Not much comfort in the fact that it was always so in the world and even less knowing that it will be so into the future – human nature being what it is…

Still can't get my head around how at the other end of life when the children have to become the parents the exact same 'character building' would be regarded as elder abuse.

Doesn't seem fair somehow.