Parenting

Is smacking right?

It has been announced recently that children benefit from an attitude of encouragement by praise and leading a good example to effect better behaviour rather than smacking.
It has always been shown that a system of reward for good behaviour encourages a positive result. It is also important to deprive the child of rewards for bad behaviour and show who is in charge. It has been shown that by denying privileges for bad behaviour and explaining the wisdom of what is right and wrong produced a better response then physical discipline.

Even in nature creatures will test each other's strength and a child will always exploit a parent's weakness. However, any loss of parental control should never be replaced with violence. It merely confirm's the parent's inability to manage the situation, and children recognise this.
Research has proved that parents of under fives recognise that smacking is the least effective way to get children to behave.
Smacking has no justification for being unjust.

The dangers of reversing SUVs

Is man's vanity to own big SUVs and Four-by-Fours responsible for killing our children?
A two year old boy was tragically killed in Alaska on Tuesday 16th August 2005 when his mother reversed her vehicle over him. Neighbours had witnessed the accident and tried to call to the mother to stop her reversing.

This is the second time this had happened in the same village. Estimates show that similar accidents occur every week in America through reversing vehicles in the home driveway.

Young children should be informed about these dangers and taught to keep at a safe distance when vehicles are being reversed in this way. Drivers should be particularly vigilant during the Summer holidays when children suffer a substantial increase in accidental injuries. During this time children are out and playing during longer day hours. Drivers should also be aware of the abundance of children out and about during the holiday periods and should show extra caution where children might be playing.

Many Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs), vans and four-by-fours have restricted viewing and a driver can not always see a young child at the back of the vehicle. Parents should also be alert to these dangers and encourage their children not to leave toys near parked cars, nor play in their vicinity.

The problem does not seem to be so common in the UK, but parents should be made aware of these dangers.