20 March 2006

Barnardos welcomes Children are Unbeatable booklet

Barnardos welcomes the booklet Children are unbeatable: 7 very good reasons for not hitting children, which was launched by the Governor General, Dame Silvia Cartwright, at the Beehive in Wellington today.

“This is a great resource for parents and parent educators,” says Peter Gerrie, Barnardos New Zealand’s Manager of Marketing and Communications.

The 54-page booklet, written by family counsellor Rhonda Pritchard, provides very good reasons for not hitting children as well as practical guidance on managing children’s behaviour without the use of physical punishment.

“As well as an invaluable resource for group discussion in parent education programmes, information in the booklet is a useful contribution to the present public debate about the place of hitting in child rearing today,” says Peter.

“Parenting can be both a richly satisfying and sometimes testing role, as children explore boundaries and learn to manage their own emotions. On occasions, however, parents may get irritated, exasperated and even angry. And it is in just such circumstances that some parents turn to the use of physical punishment ranging from the smack to more severe actions.”

“But hitting a child models precisely the wrong sort of behaviour,” says Peter. “It teaches fear not respect; pain avoidance not self discipline; retribution not compassion.”

“And above all it is a betrayal of trust.”

ENDS

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