Discipline starts at home [Letter to the editor]

I am the proud mother of an amazing, very busy and sometimes naughty five-year old boy. 
According to the new High Court judgment, even if you give your child the slightest slap on the butt, you can be prosecuted for assault.

Yes, I know the law says that I am no longer allowed to spank my child, but as all parents know, there are just some days when sturdy talking doesn’t cut it. 

Recently, my boy threw his food on the floor, made a mess and started acting out, shouting that he won’t eat. I told him that he should stop and that if he didn’t, that his father would give him a spanking. 
… on which he replied: “If you hit me, I am going to call the police.”

I was too shocked to utter a word. I don’t remember an episode of Paw Patrol mentioning that a hiding is now illegal in South Africa – so how does he know about it?

I later found out that the pre-school he is attending is training our little rascals to threaten their parents with the police. 
I truly believe there is a big difference between spanking your child to teach him right from wrong, versus child abuse. 

In Proverbs 3:12 it says: “For whom the Lord loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” 

I am a mother who delights in my son and I will correct him if he does something wrong, even if it takes a hiding to teach him.

The implications of this new law mean that if you are arrested and convicted, you will have a life-long criminal record of child abuse. 

Not just that, but for a trivial non-injurious slap, your children can be removed from the family home. One can only imagine the damage that this will do to families. 

They say discipline starts at home, so how can the teachers at the pre-school expect my child to be disciplined if they teach them to threaten parents who do so out of love?

How dare teachers do this?
This law will not stop abusers, it only prevents loving parents from disciplining their children.
The law won’t stop perpetrators from hurting others – this law hurts parents who care. 

Extremely Unhappy Mother