MEDIA RELEASE
4 June 2008
Survey Confirms Opposition to Smacking Law Based on Right to Parent, not Right to Smack
The NZ Health Survey released today confirms that parents are not using smacking as a ‘first measure’, and the huge
opposition to the anti-smacking law is not based on parents demanding the right to smack – it is based on simply the
right to parent effectively and appropriately.
The government survey shows that less than a third of primary caregivers physically punished their child in the
relatively small 4-week period before responding to the survey.
“Despite this being a very short ‘snapshot’ and therefore giving an inaccurate picture of the overall trend, it does
confirm that parents are using a number of techniques, including smacking, to correct and train their children,” says
Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.
“The figure of 48% of parents who admitted smacking in the Family First survey released last week was based on their
actions over a whole year – that’s a period 13 times larger than this survey period, so it’s obviously far more likely
that a parent will have used a smack as correction over that much longer period.”
“The survey also confirms what the international studies have shown – that the most effective use of smacking is for 2
to 6 year olds as a follow-up when the child is defiant and hasn’t responded to other forms of correction. The vast
majority of parents are using it appropriately,” says Mr McCoskrie.
“The overwhelming opposition to the anti-smacking law has never been based on demanding the right to smack or the right
to smack every time a child misbehaves. This is how the anti-smacking lobby group has attempted to paint it.”
“The continued and in fact growing opposition to the law is based on the important role of parents, and their ability to
parent their own child in a way that is reasonable and effective. The opposition to the anti-smacking law would be just
as great if there was a proposed law to ban ‘time-out’ because it was argued to be a form of isolation and led to
separation anxiety!”
This survey confirms that parents are doing a great job and deserve the right to parent in a reasonable and effective
way without being criminalised for their actions, and subject to potential investigation from CYF, police, and schools.
ENDS