Corporal punishment opinion horrifies.I was somewhat horrified hor·ri·fy tr.v. hor·ri·fied, hor·ri·fy·ing, hor·ri·fies 1. To cause to feel horror. See Synonyms at dismay. 2. To cause unpleasant surprise to; shock. when I read the letter "Corporal punishment corporal punishment, physical chastisement of an offender. At one extreme it includes the death penalty (see capital punishment), but the term usually refers to punishments like flogging, mutilation, and branding. Until c. has its place" (Kai kai Noun NZ informal food [Maori] kai noun N.Z. (informal) food, grub (slang) provisions, fare, board, commons, eats (slang Tiaki Nursing New Zealand New Zealand (zē`lənd), island country (2005 est. pop. 4,035,000), 104,454 sq mi (270,534 sq km), in the S Pacific Ocean, over 1,000 mi (1,600 km) SE of Australia. The capital is Wellington; the largest city and leading port is Auckland. , October 2006, p4) relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc the repeal of Section 59 (s59) of the Crimes Act 1961. When I first read the letter, I was shocked to see a registered nurse had written it, as I struggled to believe a nurse could hold such views. To suggest our prison population will continue to rise because parents will not be able to hit their children in order to "control their children", is of great concern. Let us think for a moment about the people who are in our prisons. Did they have childhoods where their parents guided their behaviour and nurtured and showed them unconditional love This article is about concept of unconditional love. For other uses, see Unconditional love (disambiguation). Unconditional love is a concept that means showing love towards someone regardless of his or her actions or beliefs. ? Some of the people who are in our prisons are there because they have killed children--small children--who were not able to defend themselves from the hidings and punishments inflicted on them. We know that often the people who killed these children considered they were punishing them because they had misbehaved mis·be·have v. mis·be·haved, mis·be·hav·ing, mis·be·haves v.intr. To behave badly. v.tr. and wanted to "control their children", as the writer mentioned. We also know their own childhoods were also full of violence and beatings, so they, themselves, had limited parenting skills, other than physical punishment, to call on. New Zealand has child abuse rates that many groups and individuals in this country are ashamed of and who want to make changes to reduce the culture of violence in our country. One step in this process is the full repeal of a piece of legislation which allows parents to use "reasonable" force to discipline their children, if the parents or caregivers think it is reasonable in the circumstances. What the repeal of s59 is about is removing a piece of legislation from the statute books Noun 1. statute book - a record of the whole body of legislation in a given jurisdiction written account, written record - a written document preserving knowledge of facts or events legislation, statute law - law enacted by a legislative body , so parents who hit and harm their child are not able to use it in their defence in a court of law. The removal of s59 will not affect the many caring and nurturing parents in New Zealand, but it will not be able to be used by parents who beat, harm and abuse their children and then try to justify their actions in court. As nurses, we are bound to practise from an evidence-based point of view, ie our practice and the information we share with clients is supported by research. Do we not have a personal ethical responsibility to be aware what research recommends about such issues as parenting, and not purely shout our own opinion or recommend parenting practices because "it didn't do me any harm"? I wonder. Liz Banks, RN, PGDip, Christchurch |
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