when my dad used to get in trouble he would have to go see his dad and he
would be smacked with a slipper
your dad was deputy head and his dad was the head and he used to go to the office because he would be...
[laughter] no
welcome to real english with real teachers with harry and charlie
so the first debate is going to be whether we think children
should be hit still by their parents yeah you like that great idea
I think it's a great first topic we just go straight in at the meaty stuff and just
really tackle these issues that need to be talked about yeah you know other
english teachers aren't willing to talk about this we are yeah I mean it's not on the
news is it you're not hearing this on bbc world service so tune in to real english with
real teachers to get the proper news that you need before we get going with
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in the description box below this video I hope you enjoy that guys let's get
back to the video so without further ado how do you feel about this Harry
well as someone who received very light parental abuse as a kid I feel I can't really
empathize with someone who had who has really been beaten as a child I guess
what's the reason for beating a child would you say oh well yeah we should just say
this is this is definitely not abuse this is to discipline light discipline a
little bit of a spank just to say not again
don't do that that's naughty you shouldn't steal that one penny sweet you
know [pop sound] naughty boy okay so we are talking of a form of punishment where a parent
will hit a child and I think yeah like I said light parental hitting of the
child I think that's okay I think sometimes it's it's necessary but with
most things there has to be there has to be a limit and maybe you are teaching a child
an action that's really not healthy and it's not good for his or her development
and will probably have a negative knock-on effect on their their
development and the way they treat other people
yeah that's true I remember so my parents did hit me around the face nah joking
no they did I think it was mainly my dad he would lightly spank me on the thigh and
I remember thinking you know you can't solve everything just with a bit of
violence dad and I wanted to tell him that so I think even even a little bit
of spanking ends up with a slightly warped sense of how people deal with
situations so yeah I think I agree with you I think it could be could be light
but then again there's so many new techniques out there in the parenting
world that allows for discipline without physical violence what do you think that
I think so but before we delve into that I just I want to know
you said your dad spanked you and you said it was just it was on your thigh
now I thought that a spank had to be on your bottom is that a real spanking if
it's just on your thigh well I thought it was kind of like it was like upper thigh
towards towards the cheek so it was just any anything fleshy
around there okay were you a fleshy child no no I was all skin and bones
actually what about you were you a fatty I wasn't a fatty but I had I was a bit
chubby I've always had chubby cheeks but you know I've had a kinda slender
physique sure but I had chubby cheeks good for smacking and interestingly you
were spanked cos my parents opted for a different form of punishment and
they would well they would smack me on my face
no they didn't really
yeah yeah they did and they kept
my dad I seem to remember my dad smacked me on my arm sometimes and my
mum she definitely used to smack me around the face but this happened very
rarely and I think I told this in a live lesson once my mum poured a bowl of
cereal over my over my head once that's the worst
that's the worst punishment I ever got and that was instant punishment it was
like I said something I instantly had a bowl of frosties over my face did you
think that that was a fair punishment for your action oh the bowl of cereal I
no I thought it was very unjust very very unfair I was not happy with
that okay so do we do we kind of think it's crossing the line when there's milk
involved so it's just a little bit of a tap it's fine
if there's any milk get out of here lock 'em up yeah yeah if she if she smacks
you on the bum or a little hit on the hand or even just a little slap that's
fine but when she reaches into the fridge and she gets the milk
I'm calling social services I have one thing I wanted to say we say it's okay
to hit someone lightly or hard enough so that they they know what they've done
wrong and they can repent they can ponder they can think okay I shouldn't
have done that but what do you think about using
instruments so we talked about milk but what about other things like belts forks
spoons is it okay to use them knives yeah yeah bring on the knives no so I
think the slipper was the last weapon of choice that I remember my dad used to
use at his no his dad used to use on him at school he was the head he was the deputy
head and when my dad used to get in trouble he would have to go see his dad
and he would be smacked with a slipper wait wait your dad was a deputy head and his dad
was the head and he used to go to the office because he had been...
[laughter] no
no no my dad was a child and he went to his dad's school and then
when he got in trouble he went to the deputy head
which was his dad yeah oh god I'm jus t imagining your dad like he's given the wrong like homework to a kid
and then his dad finds out what he's done and he calls your dad to the office and then
smacks your dad around the bum with a slipper I would love that so yeah other
other weapons I think I think weapons are a little bit dated now I think it's
you know it's gone it's you gotta put the belt away just put it away and if
you must use just a hand on the buttocks I think that's that's it in public when
I see a mum hit their child it's very awkward and everyone looks at each other
like [sighs] yeah but if if she turned her around and she's a little slap on the
bottom then we're kind of like okay yeah she's a she's the parent you know hopefully she's
the parent sure she can do that yeah yeah I think I think I'm with you there I I do agree
I completely agree with you I think there's a line and we shouldn't be
using instruments I wouldn't say they're dated because with anything you know we
have the evolution of punishment you know maybe there are other things we can
do and there's other instruments we could use that could condition a child
to do to behave more sensibly like maybe if you hit a child with their favourite
computer game maybe that would have a positive affect on them hang on do you not agree that the
belt and the slipper and the other devices that they used in like the early
nineteen hundreds do you think do you not think that that can be classed as dated anymore or now
I think as a fashion item I would say slippers are dated but as a
punishment and as a tool it's just cos I've got some on
it's not it's not just that I just think they are ridiculous
just having a go aren't you
but actually I am having a go at your slippers
I'm gunna I'm gunna slap you
[laughter]
[groan] I do think they're really stupid but as a tool of punishment I actually think
they're a good alternative to a hand because a hand is not very efficient you
it can hurt you we're not wanting efficiency definitely not
wanting efficiency that would encourage overwhelming abuse this would
bring back you know child abuse I don't I'm I'm not I don't agree with you I
think that we don't need to bring it back we're always gonna have child abuse
cos kids what no we're not no we're not no there's so many ways that you can avoid you know like the
super nanny you see that program where they bring in those techniques where
they go on the naughty step that's like their punishment it's psychological but
it's also helping them get over doing something naughty okay let's talk about
the naughty step so or the naughty corner so there you are
conditioning a child a child's bad behavior with isolation right which is a
good idea I remember standing in the corner I had the naughty corner in my
house and I remember the naughty corner cos it joined the playroom which is
where we had just a normal dining room table with a net on so we could play
ping-pong that was that was the playroom
[laughter]
and it also had other toys my favorite toys Action Man Ninja Turtles things like that and the
torture of being in the naughty corner was you look in the playroom n you'd see
everyone having fun and you're they're having a miserable time on your own
which is a perfect punishment it shows you what you could have been having if
you hadn't misbehaved you know what really is a good punishment the naughty corner
[laughter]
I do know what you mean about the isolation you could have gone further with that
because it's actually the worst punishment in the world if you take a
prison you look who is really fucked up those ones they're in the isolation
centers because that's that's the worst way you can deal with a human isn't it
it is it's complete it's torture it's absolute torture and then when you're in
the naughty corner or you're in our you're in solitary confinement in prison
you start doing even weirder stuff like I dunno
what
just really thinking about all
the mad shit all the horrible stuff you're going to do when you get out the
naughty corner and I think I think as...
is that what you did when you're in the naughty corner
you could see your brother and sister having fun over the little table tennis
dinner table and you were thinking I'm gonna get that bat and I'm gonna hit
him on the head I'm gunna
shove that ball in their mouths n punch them in the face is that what you wanted
what I did is I looked under the stairs and I saw my dad slippers I thought I'm gonna get one
of them and batter my brother with it that'll teach you
[laughter]
but I so I don't think I think there we've come
to the conclusion that the naughty corner can be quite a dangerous thing and
actually when you look at countries that have really low rates of reoffending
after being incarcerated after being put in jail and then they're released like
Norway they have a very different way of rehabilitating people in prisons they
send them off they do community activities they teach them new things I
think we should do that when a child's done something bad
say like maybe take to another room and teach them teach them some new phrasal
verbs or something [laughter] teach 'em yeah but this is a completely different
ballpark because as soon as you get into the adult realm of punishment
you can't literally physically punish them that's not within our law-abiding
world is it that's the only thing a sentence of time
it is it is in some countries
I think isolate I think yeah yeah okay in some countries but we're talking about
the way that we've grown up aren't we sure yeah yeah yeah yeah
so isolation as a child for five minutes isn't gonna turn you into a psychopath
thinking about all those demons inside your head that need to come out as soon
as you're released all the cats you could kill imagine that imagine if
you've been caught with your sister's hamster and or no like a gerbil
gerbils are better cos they've got a tail so you can hold them up by the tail and go ooh
so you've got your sister's gerbil you go like that and then your mum says hey but
that gerbil down and get in the naughty corner and then you go to the naughty corner and you
start thinking hmm that was fun I wonder what other animals
I could do that with so it gives you time to concentrate on how to extend the
previously performed behavior that ended you up in isolation basically I don't know I
think I I spend my time thinking about who wronged me to get me into that
situation which I suppose that could be a scenario that could escalate coming
back to the main question then do we do we think it's okay to a certain extent
to use a little bit of physical or mental punishment to a child I'm gonna
say at this moment we're not publicly aware enough of all of these strategies
cos they are tiring and it's easy to say you should be
smarty you should be better with your ways in dealing with a child but at the
moment the world isn't ready to completely remove a smack or a little
spank so I'm going to say it's okay for the next decade
[laughter]
but you don't know what's going to be happening in the next decade maybe we should be reviewing it again
in ten years we'll do another video and we'll have kids then and we'll be able
to say you know should we have smacked them yet or not or have we smacked them
yeah Charlie how's the spanking going
[sigh] I've gotta get some new slippers
hopefully by hopefully by then slippers will be banned as well like no one will
be wearing they would have died out completely
that's the dream that will I will keep them in business I promise you that
okay so there's there's the debate on whether we should abuse children no
we're joking not abuse whether you should punish a child with a little bit of a
hit still in this modern day we are saying that's okay right as long as it's
soft and there's no marking damage or there's no
ahh how can we say no permanent damage to - yeah but even that's too easy to
avoid as long as it's not damaging for the child as long as they can walk
afterwards as long as they [laughter] as long as they've got their legs intact still yeah you can do
anything you want to their arms but just don't [laughter] just no broken bones
yeah no long-term damage and they've gotta be able to feel it sure but not
too hard not too hard
go easy on your kids
so there we have a profound debate among two
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