This is SO not right! Ranty vent....

Yesterday afternoon I was running a couple of errands on my way home, and just down from where I'd parked my car were three men who were standing at a table with a big sign. They were trying to get people to sign a petition to get the government to change the anti-smacking laws back to parents being able to use 'reasonable force".

Now, just to make it very clear - I am completely against using violence against children as a means of discipline. Well, violence against children full stop.

So because of this, I was just walking past the table, not looking at them at all, when one of the men stepped into my path and asked me would I please sign the petition. I very politely said no, don't think so and tried to keep walking. This man then said well why not? I really didn't want to get in to it, so I just said I wasn't interested. He then proceeded to badger me, trying to get me to explain why I didn't want to sign.   Ended up turning into a huge full blown barney! Conversation went something like this:

Me: I don't believe we, as adults, have the right to hit children.
Him: So you'd rather use hippy techniques like time out (sneer)
Me: Yes, I would.
Him: Well aren't you marvellous
Me: So you smack your kids?
Him: Yes. I smack them with love.
Me: You love your kids, so you smack them? Gosh, they must feel truly treasured, I always feel a good smack makes me feel very good about myself.
Him: You are being very immature.
Me: You are being very intimidating.
Him: So, why do you think then that we should allow the government to tell us how to raise our kids.
Me: Too many of our babies are being killed, we need to stop that. We have to work at the lowest common denominator, which means make it against the law for anyone to smack their children, including those who think they are able to "smack with love" (sneer from me here)

I'm sure you get the idea - but basically it just went on and on, him really trying to get me to believe that I was being misguided in my beliefs, and giving me examples of when it was ok to smack your kids, and how to do it etc etc. It actually made me feel sick. So in the end I said to him, you know what, I really want to smack you right now, but if I did I'd be arrested for assault. To me, makes no difference if I hit adult or child, still assault. I then told him he was disgusting, standing there on streetcorner with two other men verbally challenging me for disagreeing with him, and I walked off.

I was left feeling very upset, and very angry. So not right, being accousted when walking down the street like that. Grrrrrr de grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr    

Edited by joshierocks

That's awful. What an idiot. Totally agree with you and well argued!!

Grrrr I mean, sure, its obvious he's passionate about his cause, but how unpleasant do you have to be!!!

You are right almostthere - I can understand people being passionate about a cause (although it makes me shudder that someone would feel THAT strongly about smacking kids), but its just not right to use intimidation like that to try and sway someone to your way of thinking.

well argued but poor you.
what a dick!

I hate arses like that. Think they're so awesome and go on and on about stuff.
I was smacked when I was a child (I was a right naughty sod and everything else was tried first before me getting a smack on the hand/bum) and I turned out right - HOWEVER, there is a fine line between using reasonable force/abuse/giving your kid a smack cuz they've been REALLY REALLY naughty and you've tried everything else. I wont get into this debate cuz I'm not in the mood to get shot down, but I do think that retarded people like that need to get off their high horses.

Yeah, good on you JoshieRocks! I rarely have the confidence to tell people where to go when they're being pushy and rude like that and I always regret not speaking up afterwards.

OMG Clare that is so sad what happened to that little girl

No I haven't seen it. I think I might cry if I do.

OMG i saw that video It was horrific