biting tongue so hard...starting to bleed...must resist providing accurate information...useless battle...

Ahhhh...it's passed now. Please continue with horrible cps thread.

Hey T - I don't think he's saying that spanking is the solution. I think he is saying when a kid is going to be taken away for what the parents might to - it makes parents awfully scared to do anything.

It would make an interesting asylum case. I wonder how many people come here seeking asylum from Great Britain.

I'm pretty sure it did say that somewhere, but I totally get the fear thing. CPS in America runs rampant. I've heard of people getting kids taken away for natural pattern breastfeeding (aka natural weaning, or "extended" nursing), home/unschooling, having babies at home (that were healthy and perfectly fine!), messy houses - not shards of glass on the floor messy, more like mom had the flu for a few days messy, etc. They have way too much power and people don't know their rights. If CPS shows up at your door, you do not have to let them in without a warrant. It's perfectly acceptable to tell them that now isn't a good time for you, but you would be happy to schedule an appointment for a later date. I think if more people knew that then fewer kids would get taken away for silly things.

The case in the OP though, is so far beyond ridiculous that I would be extremely surprised if they succeed. I think public outcry will force whatever cps is called in GB to back off.

And I don't for a second believe it's true, just because it appeared somewhere on the internet.

Is it automatically false?

I tend to give a grain of credibility to the source in this case. I believe that there is more to the story, but that there is a measure of validity to the story.

But that's me.

Things like that happen here in AZ, as dear Tracilicious will attest to, I'm sure. Our CPS - well, if it isn't the worst, I can't imagine how any other state could have a worse one.

And on the subject of spanking.....I was spanked. I have spanked my children. It is rare, it is never done in anger, and is always done as a known consequence for an action, such as "if you do that again, you will be spanked". I turned out fine. My kids are great and love me and I love them. They don't fear me in the least, and in the way we've practiced it, it has never been abusive. It is never done in a bullying way. It is set up as a choice for the child and reinforces that there are often very undesirable consequences for deliberate actions.

Tori has been spanked (one swat, each time) two times in her life, and both times it was for behavior that we had tried to address verbally and were unsuccessful. She has never done those things again, and we have never even felt remotely like spanking her at any other time. We're lucky- she's a good kid, but I also think that it's because we are consistent and we take the time to explain things to her in a manner that she can understand.

Anyway, spanking policies aside, if this report is accurate then I will be interested in following up on what happens. My mom is a whacko but I think I turned out to be a decent parent, so there goes that argument. I know a lot of people that are wonderful parents in spite of their own unhappy childhoods, and maybe even because of it.

You've never heard of the Daily Telegraph? Or did you just not click the link? Did you not even look at the source before posting this?