"Cose che non stanno ne' in cielo ne' in terra"

[fpb]

Isn’t it amazing how many supposed adults do not seem to have ever been children? It is particularly sad when these same persons pretend to legislate for those of us who have been, are, or will be

Comments

[izhilzha]

I didn't read your entire post (to a point, preaching to the choir with me, the eldest of seven homeschooled children), but you certain have a decent point.

Otoh, I have to take exception to calling children "bizarre little dwarfish creatures"...they're not angels, nor are they adult yet, but they are in fact as much a mix of good and ill instincts as we adults are. And I do vividly recall my childhood; hard not to, when it was played out for me again by each sibling younger than I. :-)

[fpb]

I was only saying how children would look to someone who has never been one and has no understanding whatever of childhood. It is certainly not my view.

[soonest_mended]

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

I'm another homeschool kiddo, the oldest of five, and have also experienced the dizzying chaos of divorce and the painful struggle to maintain structure afterward. This is all absolutely true. In addition, one of the worst things about the divorce was that, living in a small town, my siblings and mother and I were immediately under constant public scrutiny (especially in light of the divorce battle itself and the manipulation of the children involved). Discipline was near-impossible to maintain, since 'friendly' neighbors felt it their duty to lean over our fence and report even a hand-thumping to the Child Protective Services.

I first heard about this movement when I was, oh, eight or nine. I remember the initial thrill of rebellion-- children could do whatever they wanted!-- and then the horrible rush of instability when I realized that such a law would mean that I effectively had no parentsI was terrified. The idea still makes me wince: within eight years, God willing, I'll be a mother, and I want

[patchworkmind]

But anyone who confuses a slap delivered as due punishment on a child who has really done something wrong with the kind of vicious beating that restores the ego of an undergrown subhuman really is living on the Moon.

You got me. I laughed aloud, and very loudly, here in the library on that one. I got a very stern "SSSSSHHHH!" from the bizarre little dwarfish reference librarian.

That being said, I generally agree with your statement. :)

[goreism]

I agree with all this, but I remember reading in the paper it only applies to children under the age of 3 or something?

My parents were almost precisely the opposite of Farrington or whomever; apparently whenever I used to cry in the middle of the night they would dig out that enormous tome by Benjamin Spock. Funny, since I thought his watchword was "common sense."

[prylliepwns]

I personally live in California, and as the mother of 2 children, I both agree and disagree with this law. It states that no child under the age of 3 shall suffer corporal punishment

[fpb]

There are laws against child-beating and violence. At least, I imagine there are in California - there certainly are in every country in Europe. And for that matter, I regard the use of extreme violence against children as the most debased of crimes - I hope I have said it clearly enough early in the article. What bothered me about this legislative tendency is something that I see as increasingly prevalent in certain areas of our world - the tendency to see everything as violence, and to see no distinction between legitimate and illegitimate force.