Do you approve of hitting children to punish them, under certain conditions?

[morningfog]

12. Not in the same argument.

Hitting is always wrong, should never be done.

All of the other things we do to children that we would never think of doing to adults, should only be done with some awareness of the child's autonomy. I am a parent. It really bothers me to see adults, especially strangers, act is if they can do whatever they want to a child without taking the child's wishes in to account.

I am talking about two separate issues, and didn't mean to suggest they are on the same level, they are not. I think we could go far towards improving self respect and understanding consent if we treated children with the same respect that we do adults in terms of body rights.

A parent and kid may have a familiar tickle or flip kid upside down game they play, but it is not okay for another person to assume it is okay to tickle kids, punch faces, pick them up, etc. And parents should be aware of the kid's mood and whether they are receptive to whatever is going on. To be clear, this is wholly apart from hitting and I would thrilled if this is where our discussions were rather than "is it okay to hit your child." We still have a long way to go, but times have changed and continue to change.