It’s a busy day and you’re in a rush. Outside it’s sweltering hot. And everyone’s tempers are starting to fray.
Then your child starts to play up. A whinge turns into a whine, then morphs into hostility and outright rudeness, before becoming a full-scale meltdown. Other shoppers are beginning to stare, frown and judge your parenting.
You feel the blood rise to your head. This is the last thing you need. What do you do?
For one harassed Perth mother-of-three last week, the answer was to give her four-year-old son a slap in the face. The consequence for her split-second decision was far more serious than she could have possibly imagined.
The 33-year-old was stopped by police in the car park and later arrested at home, before being taken away in tears in a police van and charged with common assault. Her kids were said to be “mortified that their mum was in trouble.”
The incident, reportedly caught on CCTV at Ellenbrook Shopping Centre last month, was reported to police by a member of the public.
Research overwhelmingly shows that hitting by parents has a negative impact on children. They may feel hurt, humiliated and wronged. And they’re learning from their most powerful role models that violence is a legitimate solution to a problem, which it’s usually not.
It’s an extreme case that has reignited the smacking debate in Australia. Should parents be allowed to use physical punishment as a form of discipline? Or should it be outlawed?
So smacking really isn’t ok.
But, on the flipside, parents are human too. Raising kids can be hard and at times the pressure can get to you. In the heat of the moment, people make bad decisions (there are, of course, some parents who are routinely violent and should face the full force of the law).
So we shouldn’t demonize the mum in this situation either. According to her husband, who spoke to 6PR Radio about the ordeal, she”“reacted poorly” in the moment, exacerbated by the pressure of “bad looks” and frowns from onlookers.
There was no family history of abuse and their four-year-old has forgotten being slapped and was not physically injured, he said.
Senior police are reviewing the case, which is before the courts.
If found guilty of common assault, the mother faces a possible three-year jail term and a $36,000 fine. Her husband says the family is traumatised and humiliated.
Let’s hope common sense prevails.
