Thankfully, My Boy Is Grown...

Now I'll just have to worry about the grandkids.

Calif. Lawmaker Seeks Spanking Ban
Provided By: The Associated Press
Last Modified: 1/21/2007 10:04:34 AM

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- California parents could face jail and a fine for spanking their young children under legislation a state lawmaker has promised to introduce next week.

Democratic Assemblywoman Sally Lieber said such a law is needed because spanking victimizes helpless children and breeds violence in society.

"I think it's pretty hard to argue you need to beat a child," Lieber said. "Is it OK to whip a 1-year-old or a 6-month-old or a newborn?"

Lieber said her proposal would make spanking, hitting and slapping a child under 4 years old a misdemeanor. Adults could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Aides to the assemblywoman said they are still working on a definition for spanking.

Now I'm a little late coming to this party, but I ran into it on a few other sites today and just got more PO'd every time I crossed it.

I never beat my boy, but from about 1 1/2 to 3 years old a quick cupped handed swat to the pampers was a quick attention getter that made it clear that whatever preceded it was not going to be tolerated any further. Before that age, leniency was granted because they're so damn cute and how do you retort the argument of "but..me .... ooh....butterfly"? After 3, there was enough concentration that reasoning could be employed most of the time, and if that didn't work, "The Look" could be pulled out and that would usually settle it.

I was spanked, switched and had a belt used on me growing up and I can say that in all cases, I never deserved it (...Mheh). My parents beat me without mercy for any minor infraction of their ridiculous standards they had set for me, not realizing that I would grow up to be the sociopath I am today, a steadily employed, middle class homeowner, with a clean driving record and no rap sheet.

The topper to this story comes here:

Lieber, who has no children, attracted nationwide attention after she pledged to introduce an anti-spanking bill to protect children from violence.

The good news:

A Democratic lawmaker has abandoned her heavily ridiculed campaign to make spanking a crime, acknowledging that the idea would get whacked even in California's sometimes whimsical Legislature.

Of course she still doesn't believe she could be wrong

Spanking a child on the buttocks — even to the point of injury — will remain legal in California, Lieber said.

I've got news for her, if she had bothered to read some of the existing laws in Kalifornia, injuring a child is illegal and always has been.

What a maroon.