The Liberal War on a Parents Right to Spank their Child

The Liberal War on a Parents Right to Spank their Child

By

James Scott Trimm

In a recent grand act of judicial activism a court in Johannesburg South Africa recently ruled that physical discipline in the home was not in line with the constitution, meaning parents who spank their children could be jailed for assault.  This was not a result of legislation, spanking has always been legal in South Africa.  This was a clear case of legislating from the bench.  Could it happen here?

The worldwide war on parental rights is moving forward.  One of the many reasons conservatives in the US have fought to prevent the US from ratifying the “UN Convention on the Rights of the Child” is that the UN Committee's interpretation of the Convention encompasses a prohibition on corporal punishment including spanking. 

But liberals will not be stopped that easily.  The left has been waging war on spanking for many years. 

For countless generations spanking has been a tried and true tool used by parents to discipline their children toward becoming upstanding citizens.  

Spanking goes back to biblical times and is a basic principle in the Judeo-Christian Family tradition.  One of the many biblical references is:

“Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.”

(Proverbs 22:15 KJV)

The right of Parents to rear their children as they see fit are among the most fundamental of our natural rights with which our Creator endowed us.  John Locke put it like this:

Adam was created a perfect man, his body and mind in full possession of their strength and reason, and so was capable, from the first instant of his being, to provide for his own support and preservation, and govern his action according to the dictates of the law of reason which God had implanted in him. From him the world is peopled with his descendants, who were all born infants, weak and helpless, without knowledge or understanding: but to supply the defects of this imperfect state, till the improvement of growth and age hath removed them, Adam and Eve, and after them all parents were, by the law of nature, under an obligation to preserve, nourish, and educate the children they had begotten; not as their own workmanship, but the workmanship of their own maker, the Almighty, to whom they were to be accountable for them….

This is that which puts the authority into the parents’ hands to govern the minority of their children. God hath made it their business to employ this care on their offspring, and hath placed in them suitable inclinations of tenderness and concern to temper this power, to apply it, as his wisdom designed it, to the children’s good, as long as they should need to be under it.

(John Locke’s Second Treatise of Civil Government, first published in 1690)

The United States Supreme Court has upheld the sanctity of parental rights.  In 1925 the US Supreme Court said:

The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only. The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.

(Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U.S. 510 (1925), at 535.)

in 1972 the US Supreme Court declared:

The history and culture of Western civilization reflect a strong tradition of parental concern for the nurture and upbringing of their children. This primary role of the parents in the upbringing of their children is now established beyond debate as an enduring American tradition.

(Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972), at 232.)

In 1979 the US Supreme Court also said:

The law’s concept of the family rests on a presumption that parents possess what a child lacks in maturity, experience, and capacity for judgment required for making life’s difficult decisions. More important, historically it has recognized that natural bonds of affection lead parents to act in the best interests of their children...

Most children, even in adolescence, simply are not able to make sound judgments concerning many decisions, including their need for medical care or treatment. Parents can and must make those judgments.

(Parham v. J.R., 442 U.S. 584 (1979), at 602-3.)

And in 2000 the Court declared that “the liberty interest… of parents in the care, custody, and control of their children is perhaps the oldest of the fundamental liberty interests recognized by [the] Court.” (Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000), at 65.)

And in the Great State of Texas this very much includes the rights of parents to spank their children, send them to bed without desert, or do many other things that liberals don’t like.

The Texas Family Code (TFC) §261.001(1)(c) defines abuse of a child, in part, as "physical injury that results in substantial harm to the child, excluding reasonable discipline by a parent, guardian, or managing or possessory conservator that does not expose the child to a substantial risk of harm.”

So does the Texas Family Code consider spanking to be “reasonable discipline”?

Yes, the Texas Family Code (TFC 151.001(e)) is clear on this:

(e)  Only the following persons may use corporal punishment for the reasonable discipline of a child:

(1)  a parent or grandparent of the child;

(2)  a stepparent of the child who has the duty of control and reasonable discipline of the child; and

(3)  an individual who is a guardian of the child and who has the duty of control and reasonable discipline of the child.

That’s right, the Texas Family Code specifically states that “corporal punishment” (i.e. spanking) is not abuse.

 

The Texas Penal Code also allows parents to spank their children.  The Texas Penal Code (Texas Penal Code §9.61) says:

(a) The use of force, but not deadly force, against a child younger than 18 years is justified:

(1) if the actor is the child’s parent or stepparent or is acting in loco parentis to the child; and

(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is necessary to discipline the child or to safeguard or promote his welfare.

(b) For purposes of this section, “in loco parentis” includes grandparent and guardian, any person acting by, through, or under the direction of a court with jurisdiction over the child, and anyone who has express or implied consent of the parent or parents.

The Penal Code allows force, but not deadly force. The Family Code allows spanking that does not cause “substantial harm”.

So what is “substantial harm?”  According to the Texas Administrative Code:

Substantial Harm. Real and significant physical injury or damage to a child that includes, but is not limited to, bruises, cuts, welts, skull or other bone fractures, brain damage, subdural hematoma, internal injuries, burns, scalds, wounds, poisoning, human bites, concussions, and dislocations and sprains.

So under the Texas Family (civil) Code a parent can spank a child as long as they do not bruise them etc,, but under the Penal (criminal) code a parent can spank their child as long as they do not do so with deadly force. 

If you have questions about any of this I suggest consulting an attorney, I am not an attorney and this blog should not be considered legal advice. 

Parents do still have the right to (within reason) spank their child or send them to bed without desert in the State of Texas.  The Texas Legislature has guarded this natural right in the Texas Criminal and Civil Law. 

But beware.  When liberals fail to strip us of our rights at the voting booth, they engage in judicial activism and seek to do so through dictators in black robes.  They already have been engaging in legislating from the bench to strip parents of the natural right to reasonably discipline their child thru spanking, or even sending their child to bed without desert.  

Its not just South Africa! Keep watching this blog. In a future blog I will document that this is happening in Texas Courts already!  Stay tuned!

For those seeking a Biblical perspective of spanking I recommend the Focus on the Family web site. http://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/effective-biblical-discipline/effective-child-discipline/biblical-approach-to-spanking