Bill banning parents from physically punishing children to be enacted

But it has been modified so that local governments and child welfare centers will be urged to make efforts to offer guidance to parents who have abused children

There is that ‘urged’ word again. This ruling seems to have no guts at all and is just paper talk. Does this mean, the next time I see a parent slap, kick, pinch or push their child on a train or in a restaurant I can call the police and have the thug arrested? Of course it doesn’t. It only means that parents can be arrested after the fact, which is already the case.

While there will be no penalties for offenders under the envisioned legislation, experts on child abuse believe the move will serve as a chance for society to think about what is the appropriate way of disciplining children.

Enact a law with no penalties, with the intent of urging society to THINK? How much more asinine does it get?

Once again, knee-jerk response to a much deeper problem, EDUCATION and not just conforming to some idealistic goal!

Children must be protected. End of story.

Children must be protected. End of story.

End of story? Easy to say, but extremely difficult to do! You can not protect everyone, including children, but you most definitely CAN improve the education of the people and provide better and more informed social services.

You also can start making laws that put the responsibility on social services folks to actually do their jobs and not make things worse!

Easy to say.....hard to do....and no way is it the end of the story either!

Using laws as threats only creates animosity.

Why not start by teaching a class for boys and girls in high school,

on baby/child care?

So often, I feel compelled to tell a new mother everytime I see them

carrying their newborns in holsters, and the baby's neck is not supported!

Babysitting jobs for teens?

Why not teach the difference between "discipline" and "abuse" on a daily

afternoon television show?

When a child dies due to abuse, it takes so long for anything to be done

to help while the problem exists, yet the NEXT DAY it is dramatized, on tv.

Why not use tv to instruct?

So much of the physical punishment is frustration taken out

on the kid, and teaches nothing positive.

Ways of handling stress needs to be taught.

Another pathetically weak law that will be as useful as a chocolate fireguard!

If my kid behaves like an unruly little turd in public, or anywhere else, my flip flop will have another use!

Well since there's no penalties for offenders expect people to take that long about as seriously as they do the law which requires them to pay NHK subscription fees

Law not long dang ESL phone

Physical abuse lowers the IQ of a child. How about teaching children bargaining instead of bullying? That'll be a more useful skill when they're adults.

Also, when do you stop hitting childen? When they're big enough to hit back, right? Just shows abusive parents are cowards and hypocrites.

Why not use tv to instruct?

Guess you dont pay the NHK guy do you? Can I guess you dont know any Japanese, hence the comment you made here?

And the same agencies in place who will do nothing or accidentally release info the angry abusive parents.

What physical punishment actually entails is still very vague.

No spankings, swats, slaps, etc seems to be implied.

Physical violence against kids makes me so mad that I better not write what I'm thinking...

As a child I was hit many times, and I knew why. Most of it was not abuse. A child can tell the difference.

I was never hit, and I never hit my children - not once. My wife was hit, and she did. My guess is that my kids will never hit theirs. It takes generations to break this type of behavior.

I was never hit, and I never hit my children - not once. My wife was hit, and she did. My guess is that my kids will never hit theirs. It takes generations to break this type of behavior.

Aye. Astounding just how many people are unaware of the cycle of abuse.

Ridiculous

What physical punishment actually entails is still very vague.

As you say, hitting with a hand seems to be implied, but what about locking in a room, preventing them from leaving the house, not letting them watch their favorite TV program, making them eat their vegetables, etc. These all have a physical element. I think we probably all agree that abusing a child is wrong. What we may disagree on is that boundary between abuse and reasonable chastisement.

How to accelerate the decline of Japanese society

. My wife was hit, and she did. My guess is that my kids will never hit theirs. It takes generations to break this type of behavior.

No it doesn't, that's BS. All it takes is will and desire not to let YOUR children have the same experiences!

If my father were alive today, and did the same things that he did to my brothers and I , he would be in jail.

Didnt take generations, it took love and the will to no do it yourself. When my father beat the crap out of us and we screamed why, all he answered was, "it's what my father did".

THAT was more than enough for me to never do it to my own children.

As a child I was hit many times, and I knew why. Most of it was not abuse. A child can tell the difference.

I was never hit as a child either. I was occasionally slapped if I misbehaved, and did not heed the final verbal warning.

And yet another toothless law by a government patting itself on the back over this while only last week there was the story of the girl beaten to death despite her child going to social welfare services more than once before.

Oh! oh! oh! But they can now URGE parents not to beat their kids to death. I forgot about that. That'll certainly work.

Do any of you pro-corporal punishment for kids posters on here hit other adults when they don't do what you want them to do? No, right? That would be assault, and you'd be arrested. Stop thinking bullying kids is the right thing to do.

@Serengoza,

I think most people who object to this kind of legislation oppose it on grounds that the laws are vague regarding what constitutes physical discipline. As others above have posted, is locking a child in his room considered abuse now? Is refusing to let a child go out and play abuse? Is sending a child to bed when she’s hungry because she refused to eat the dinner prepared for her abuse?

I don’t think anyone is arguing for the right to clock their offspring with frying pans or to dip their hands in boiling water for punishment.

Comparing how you treat children to adults is a straw man argument. Children and adults are not the same, and it would be more abusive, psychologically speaking, to treat a child the same way you treated an adult, with the differing responsibilities and expectations each has. Just off the top of my head, I wouldn’t expect my children to make their own food, enroll themselves in school, take themselves to the doctor when they’re sick. I don’t charge them rent for living in my house or expect them to give me space when I’m tired or frustrated. If I lived with an adult that I did all these things for, and then that adult decided to draw all over my walls with crayons or wet himself at night and make me change his clothes and bedding - let’s just say “time out” wouldn’t be how I handled him.

@bfarmToday 01:04 pm JST

I think most people who object to this kind of legislation oppose it on grounds that the laws are vague regarding what constitutes physical discipline. As others above have posted, is locking a child in his room considered abuse now? Is refusing to let a child go out and play abuse? Is sending a child to bed when she’s hungry because she refused to eat the dinner prepared for her abuse?

That may be the reason an administrative-criminal liability is not expressedly provided for, but it isn't useless. At least in theory (we'll need some courts to actually process these cases to develop jurisprudence).

What this law does is declare such acions ILLEGAL, thus firmly putting them out of qualifying for Exclusion of Criminality under Article 35 of the Japanese Penal Code. Thus, if you beat the kids, it is a clear case of assault now. For something like sending a chiild to bed, it isn't legal but you probably did not touch any of the penal code articles, so by itself you are safe (if he actually gets damaged, however...).

@KazuakiShimazaki

I’m not an expert on the Japanese legal code, so if it’s a case of getting some legislation put into place because the current status of the law is like the Wild West where anything goes, I can understand the motivation behind such legislation. If it’s a case where there are already laws in place and basically the police, teachers, and social workers all dropped the ball on these tragic cases of children being beaten to death, then I think those people need to be held culpable and the legislation being pushed comes across as somewhat of a diversion from the real problem.

That being said, if, according to your words, actions like sending a child to bed without a secondary supper, or confining a child to the house due to bad behavior is illegal, but probably wouldn’t lead to prosecution, that’s a problem.

I wrote about this several weeks back when the legislation was being drafted, but I’ll say it again for good measure. Why is it that people have amnesia when it comes to government incompetence? Everyone rails about how corrupt and clueless the government is when it comes to construction projects, managing the economy, planning the Olympics, but then they’re ready to let the same government have more involvement in a much more important sphere or life, that of raising your children? As a parent, is there any issue more important?