And they wonder why kids are so wild.

Locked up for smacking my son ... How a slap brought police and social services in to tear a family apart
By SUSAN POPE -

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/femail/article.html?in_article_id=557440&in_page_id=1879

There was nothing ominous about the knock at the door, but when I pulled it open I was confronted by four police officers and our street was thick with panda cars.

This is not a scene you see too often in our home village of Great Malvern, not even if there has been a rare burglary in the respectable part of Worcestershire where we live happily among other decent, law-abiding families.

But the police were not coming to our aid. Instead they were coming to arrest me and my husband Folke for child abuse.


Looking me straight in the eye the officer said: "We are about to arrest you for cruelty and neglect to Guy Pope."

Guy is our 11-year-old son. And my crime? Smacking him once after he had ignored my warnings to stop his temper tantrum and repeated swearing.

He and his 16-year-old brother, Oliver, had then concocted a tissue of lies claiming we had starved and beaten them and - far worse in their eyes - refused to let them have their games consoles.

But rather than examining my well-fed younger son and his unmarked, if rebellious brother, the police had called in social services and arrested us.

Folke and I were about to be thrown in police cells for the next 32 hours, interrogated by detectives and warned we would be facing charges.

Worst of all, we would see our children placed on the child protection register by social workers who believe an isolated smack is child abuse.


Smacking is a last resort, but Folke and I believe it is our right as parents to administer this punishment if absolutely necessary.

Guy and Oliver stormed off. Folke went to fetch them - we had a good idea where they'd be.

Oliver had fallen in with a local family who to me represent many of the problems in society: the children (who have different fathers) are able to do as they please without any parental control.

Oliver had been playing truant and would sometimes stay with this family at night. As much as we disapproved, at least he was safe.

When Folke arrived at this family's house he was met by the police.

An officer said: "Serious allegations of physical and mental abuse have been made against you by your children and you are not allowed to go near them."

The allegations were, of course, completely untrue. Oliver subsequently admitted he had provoked Guy before calling the police himself and making the claims on Guy's behalf.

Folke returned home furious but also in a state of shock.

Then two policemen arrived at our house and said they wanted to check Harriet was safe.

Incredibly, we were also told Guy was going to stay with this other family despite the fact that they had not been subject to any Criminal Record Bureau checks and had no foster-parenting experience.

Parents need to have the power to set boundaries for their children.

Without discipline in the home, children grow up with no sense of right and wrong.

Folke and I adore our children and try to avoid smacking at all costs. But we would not hesitate to do the same again

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

Mom and Dad should immediately put both of these brats into boarding school never to have them return to the family house ever. Just not worth the risk....it's a really good thing they're boys, girls would have Dad in jail due to sexual abuse charges.

The 16 y.o should perhaps be listed as an emancipated minor...

Hope the parents are pissed enough to say, "Bye brats"...these kids won't be getting better as they grow older.

Hmmmm...post-natal birth control sounds pretty good.