Well i found all your replies very interesting, it appears in general most of you agree with this new law, keep in mind those against it, that NZ has a very high rate of child abuse, i am ashamed to say so, but it is the truth,so the surveys say anyhow, i guess per capita of population etc.

I grew up being spanked,smacked, and i have smacked my children on the rare occasion, however i am not for smacking children at all, i guess i have learned from the errors of my way's,I guess what people are upset about is that the government as puckstop put it are telling us how to raise our children, and i can see that point, and that parents are going to be turned into criminals, that really should not be.

For example if you are seen giving your child just a quick smack, if someone reports you, the police will have to act and arrest you, for those people who do smack their children, it is going to be hard to all of sudden stop, don't you think?

Someone said if your child was about to run infront of a car , it was still ok to give them a quick smack, but if they had already done the deed it was not, now that is confusing, and surely needs to be made clearer.,I can forsee some real major problems with this law.

However i do see it as a positive thing in the long run, we will have a new generation growing up that won't ever smack their children,(but i guess some people in the privacy of their homes still will)I don't think it will stop potential child abuser's though, as they will break the law no matter what,if you are that way inclined a law ain't gonna stop you, don't you think?,so i am wondering if the law will achieve the purpose it is intended really.

Their was a grey area in our law, which needed to be changed, it was ok to reasonable force to discipline your child,because of that a woman who used a whip on her child walked out of court scott free,now that is not right, that cannot happen anymore, and I think a change was needed, you could not assault an adult, but yet you could do that to a child.

I am of the opinion that it will be a good move for NZ, and sadly not all parents are responsible,caring etc, that is why puckstop we have to make these type of laws,to protect those who cannot protect themselves.

I just wanted to add, I think most time spankings are done out of sheer fustration, and when one is angry,honestly having found time out and other forms of discipling your child,much better , not only for the child but the parent as well, whenever i did smack my child, which was not very often, i felt really bad, the old saying this will hurt me more than you, really did apply, and believe me it is all learned behaviour,so if we can teach this generation not to smack, it will just be passed on as a normal behaviour and way in which to discipline our children,that can only be for the good IMO.