Who Is Allowed to Hit Your Kid?

Most parents take issue with anyone striking their child. Partly because many of those same people have already figured out that violence is no more an effective deterrent than it is a way to persuade someone to do what you want them to do.

Violence breeds resentment. Violence in any form might change behavior temporarily, but I’ve never heard anyone say, “I wasn’t going to do what he wanted until he hit me. Now it’s clear to me that he’s 100 percent right and I’ll do it his way because it’s the right thing to do.”

And yet corporal punishment is still allowed in Ohio public schools. More than 600 Ohio public school districts ban corporal punishment, according to the ACLU, which also points out that corporal punishment is prohibited by state law in child care, foster care and institutions for children.

But the Ohio House still hasn’t voted on House Bill 406, which would ban corporal punishment in all of Ohio’s public schools. The ACLU says no one testified against the bill and yet it still hasn’t become law.

That’s why the ACLU is calling on citizens of the Buckeye state to call their State Representative today and “urge them to pass this common-sense bill before they leave for summer recess.”

You can look up your Representative by name or zip code online here, or you can call 800-282-0253 to leave a message for your Representative Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m.–5 p.m.

Have questions for the ACLU about this? Call them at 216-472-2200 or e-mail at contact@acluohio.org.

Stand up! Get active! Make some noise! Or do you think some kids “deserve” to be hit?

— Margo Pierce

Comments

[Gregory Flannery]

As a former child, thank you for urging people to support this legislation. One easy way to make the world a better place is to stop hitting children.

[CityKin]

It is already rare, and outlawing it is a feel-good gesture.

A few schools have parents sign a waiver allowing spanking instead of detention.