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RESEARCH AND CHILDREN:UK – Northern Ireland |
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It's a hit not a 'smack' – a booklet about what children think about being hit or smacked by adults
Save the Children in Northern Ireland carried out research into children's views on smacking during the period of a consultation on law reform concerning corporal punishment. The children's responses were reported to the Office of Law Reform and the politicians. The full report is available from Save the Children in Belfast (details below).
Method
189 boys and girls aged 4-11 were asked what they thought about smacking. 121 children wrote their answers to four questions posted out to after-school clubs. The questions were:
Why do you think adults hit children?
How do you think a child feels after being hit by a parent or other adult?
When children do something wrong do you think there are other ways of sorting things out instead of hitting a child? If yes, what would you suggest?
Do you think that it is wrong for an adult to hit a child? If yes, it is wrong because ...
Another 68 children discussed the issue in their after-school club. This was done with the help of a cartoon character called Splodge who asked questions like "who knows what a smack is?", "why do you think children get smacked?", "who usually smacks children?", "where do children usually get smacked?", "what does it feel like to be smacked?", "how do children act after they've been smacked?", "how do adults act after they have given you a smack?", "when you are big, do you think you will smack children?" The children's responses were taped and then written down.
What the children said
1. Why do you think adults hit children?
Two out of three children (especially those under 8 years of age) believed that adults hit children because the child is "bad, bold, cheeky, doing things wrong or doing wrong things". One in four of the children (especially those between 9 and 11 years old) thought that children are hit because of how the adult is feeling, not what the child does.
"Because they are disobedient" (7 year old girl)
"Because they forgot about something or done something wrong" (7 year old girl)
"Because they are angry and take it out on the children" (11 year old girl)
"Adults hit children because maybe they are very angry or they just do not like them" (10 year old girl)
"Because they are afraid to sit them down and say to them not to do that and sometimes they are too busy for their children" (11 year old girl)
"Because they get too angry and cannot stop themselves" (10 year old girl)
2. How do you think a child feels after being hit by a parent or other adult?
Children said that it hurts physically to be hit by someone bigger and that it hurts inside to be hit by the people they love, their parents. More than four out of five children used one or more of these words: "hurt, sad, sore, upset, unhappy, unloved, heartbroken, awful". Four out of five children felt sad or unloved after being hit.
"It's sore, very sore" (4 year old girl)
"I feel scared and cry" (6 year old boy)
"It's like hell" (9 year old boy)
"You feel that your parents don't love you if it's your parents smacking you because why would they smack you?" (10 year old boy)
"Sad - feel that mummy and daddy don't love me" (7 year old boy)
"Angry and hurt, hates their parents" (9 girl year old)
"I think the child would be heartbroken and hurt" (9 year old girl)
3. When children do something wrong do you think there are other ways of sorting things out instead of hitting a child? If yes, what would you suggest?
Children suggested a variety of ways of sorting things out. About one in four felt that talking things through was the best way to teach children right from wrong.
"Not get outside to play, be put to bed" (6 year old boy)
"The mummy has to talk to their child" (10 year old boy)
"By grounding or stopping them from doing something they enjoy" (10 year old girl)
"There are other ways to talk to them about it, send them to bed with no dinner, don't let them watch TV but DON'T hit them" (10 year old boy)
"They could sit them down and tell them it's wrong" (11 year old girl)
4. Do you think that it is wrong for an adult to hit a child? If yes, it is wrong because ...
Most of the children believed it is wrong for an adult to hit a child, the two main reasons being that it hurts the child physically and emotionally and that it sets a bad example.
"They are big, the child is small, it is not fair" (6 year old boy)
"Some day they might hurt me too much" (7 year old boy)
"It doesn't resolve your problem" (9 year old boy)
"You are showing violence to a child and showing a bad example to younger children" (10 year old girl)
"They could hurt them and make them think that hitting is right" (11 year old girl)
It's a HIT, not a "smack" - A booklet about what children think about being hit or smacked by adults, written in 2002 by Goretti Horgan, is available from:
Save the Children, Popper House, 15 Richmond Park, Belfast BT10 0HB, UK
Tel. +44 (0)28 9043 1123
Fax +44 (0)28 9043 1314
www.savethechildren.org.uk/onlinepubs/workitout