For $35.95, parents who want to discipline their kids “God’s way” can buy a handmade paddle, complete with Bible verse and free Prime shipping from Amazon. The online retailer’s algorithm recommended the paddle, which was listed as an “Amazon’s Choice,” a label Amazon uses to describe products that best match a customer’s search. Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Corporal punishment’
Move to reinstate corporal punishment in Samoa questioned
Monday, September 10th, 2018
Samoa’s ombudsman and a supreme court judge say they’re at a loss as to what has motivated a move to reinstate corporal punishment in Samoa’s high schools. Samoa banned the use of corporal punishment in 2013. But a proposed amendment to the Education Bill 2009, section 23, would allow teachers in schools to use reasonable Read more
Tonga – Call to end corporal punishment.
Monday, March 20th, 2017
Tonga’s Women and Children Crisis Centre says it is working with the police to end corporal punishment in Tonga. Last week, a middle school teacher was charged with assault over the beating of a student who was later hospitalised for his injuries. The teacher also reportedly threatened to beat the 11-year-old’s parents if they reported Read more
Pastor says smacking children not part of pre-christian Samoa
Friday, September 30th, 2016
Reverend Nove Vailaau says during his research into pre-Christian Samoa he has discovered that smacking was not a feature of traditional Samoan language and culture. Accepting children into family life was a more inclusive process. Traditional Samoan values promoted the protection of children, not the infliction of suffering upon them. He says when the missionaries arrived Read more
Christian cites God’s law in defence of caning in Timaru court
Tuesday, June 21st, 2016A born-again Christian defending his bamboo canings says his faith taught him to hit his children’s bottoms when they misbehaved. The South Canterbury man, whose name is suppressed, faces charges of assault with a weapon. He says his hyperactive son needed the punishments. Continue reading
Church attitude to smacking kids raised with Pope
Tuesday, November 17th, 2015
Former Irish president Mary McAleese has raised the issue of the Church’s attitude to corporal punishment of children with Pope Francis. Ms McAleese’s revelation that she did this came as Ireland’s parliament last week removed the common law defence of “reasonable chastisement” of children. In an interview, the former Irish president said she raised with Read more
Smacking law has criminalised parents
Tuesday, November 18th, 2014Leading public lawyer Mai Chen says New Zealand’s 2007 changes to smacking law have criminalised “good parents”. A legal opinion signed by Ms Chen for the lobby group Family First says case law since Section 59 of the Crimes Act was changed have confirmed that is now illegal for parents to use force against a Read more
Beatings won’t stop brawls
Friday, October 12th, 2012
Recent school boy brawls in Suva have lead to calls by some Fijian leaders for the re-introduction of corporal punishment. And earlier in the year the Prime Minster of Samoa also threatened to reintroduce corporal punishment in response to school brawls at sporting events. There is no evidence however that the abandonment of corporal punishment has made Read more
Brawls caused by human rights undermining family structure
Tuesday, October 9th, 2012
The recent school brawls involving secondary school students in Suva, Fiji are a reflection of the deep rooted bad effects of human rights or children’s rights on the family structure. In his written submissions to the Constitution Commission, Aisea Vunibaka, a retired revenue collector, said human rights were stopping teachers from punishing students. “Their parents, Read more
School boy brawl makes Samoa’s PM consider corporal punishment
Friday, August 10th, 2012
Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said was beginning to think that “western-styled disciplinary methods we have been adopting in recent years – which includes frowning on the strap – is not working” and he is seriously considering the reintroduction of corporal punishment. He made this comment following a brawl between Avele and St Joseph’s colleges Read more