As Scotland's smacking ban comes into effect, a mother has said she believes 'every loving parent' should be able to smack their children as a means of proper discipline - though not everyone agrees.
Journalist Claire Muldoon appeared on This Morning to discuss the topic, arguing children should be punished in this way where appropriate.
Criticising Scotland's new law, she said: "I definitely think it is Big Brother honing in on this and every loving parent would use some form of physical chastisement - not always but if it's suitable."
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Claire continued: "This whole thing stems from love. If you had a friend who was doing something that was harming themselves - you would hope that a friend would say, 'look let's be honest your behaviour is wrong'."
Muldoon was joined by presenter and journalist Rebecca Wilcox, who gave her counter-argument.
Mum-of-two Wilcox said she felt 'awful' after once hitting her four-year-old son when he spilt water all over her laptop, saying it made he feel like a 'hypocrite' and saw the moment as her 'biggest guilt as a mum'.
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She said: "I remember it was all about my loss of control... yeah, he was misbehaving. Yes, he was doing something wrong.
"But I'm the adult. I should know better. I'm constantly saying, 'Don't hit your brother, don't hit your friends, don't hit me.' What am I doing?"
Earlier this week, Scotland became the first country in the UK to make smacking illegal, following a new law brought in by Members of Scottish Parliament (MSPs) during a vote in the Scottish Parliament.
In a bid to give children the same protection as adults, now physical attacks on both grown-ups and children will be treated as assault, a criminal offence.
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This Morning viewers were divided by the debate, with one tweeting: "Banning smacking won't target abusers. They will continue regardless. It also won't target emotional abuse which can often be worse."
A second said: "As a child of [an] 11 child family who was smacked rarely, we had a great relationship with our parents. All showed respect and NONE of us went wayward. There is a difference of smacking to beating/bullying."
Siding with Wilcox, one wrote: "Parents are supposed to be role models to their children. By smacking your child you are telling them it's OK to hit people to get your point across. How do people not see this?"
Featured Image Credit: ITV
