Hands Off!

To spank or not to spank? That's a question every parent of an occasionally recalcitrant child has to decide. There comes a point when gentle admonishment seems a waste of breath, and a stern warning, withheld treat or outright bribe may not even turn the tide. At that point, some parents resort to a swift smack on the backside — though child-care experts increasingly frown on the idea. And parents traveling with children should know that laws against corporal punishment may take that decision out of their hands.

Much of the world — including Asia, the Middle East, the U.S., the U.K., Canada and New Zealand — leaves the spanking issue up to parents. But 11 nations — Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Israel, Iceland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden — already have laws prohibiting corporal punishment of children. Sanctions range from fines to possible imprisonment. And if child-welfare activists and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child have their way, the day will soon come when spanking is illegal everywhere. As of this year, care workers in the U.K. are no longer permitted to strike children in their care; the "reasonable chastisement" defense means parents still can.

The U.N. has called for all countries to explicitly ban child corporal punishment. The Supreme Court of Canada recently heard a case that could result in a tightening of the law there. Recent debate on the subject in New Zealand has prompted Prime Minister Helen Clark to call for a ban on even "reasonable chastisement" of kids. In short, parents should think before they strike.