A leading paediatrician is laying the smack down on parents who smack their children.

He claims that it is no longer acceptable for parent to argue that it never hurt past generations, and calls for the support of his colleagues to eradicate the open palmed discipline and stand up for children’s rights.

Dr Gervase Chaney from the Royal Children’s Hospital wants to ban smacking your child in Australia, saying that we are lagging behind other countries in the world.

Chaney’s comments come after calls for a similar ban in Britain, suggested by The Royal College of Paediatrics. They claim that “today’s smack becomes tomorrow’s punch”.

Smacking is banned in a number of countries including Austria, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Moldova, Romania, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Ukraine.

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