50 percent of the Irish believe it’s acceptable to hit children as punishment

Surprise finding starts debate about state of Irish parenting

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Half of Irish adults still believe in smacking children

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Almost half of Irish people believe it is acceptable to slap a child as punishment, a new survey has found.

Commissioned by Newstalk, the new survey found that 49 per cent of Irish people thought it was acceptable to slap a child at least under some circumstances, with 49 per cent saying they had actually done so.

According to TheJournal.ie, some respondents admitted to feeling guilty after slapping a child, and claimed that they only ever did so out of frustration, although one respondent answered: 'A little tip on the hand or bum never done anyone any harm.'

However, a recent Canadian study found that spanking erodes developmental growth in children and decreases a child's IQ.

The new Irish survey, which collected responses from nearly 800 people, also found that a quarter of people believe Irish parents dress their children inappropriately for their age.

39.5 percent believed it was acceptable to give alcohol to a minor, while slightly less, 38.9 per cent, said it was never acceptable, while the remainder did not know.

In separate questions, 2.3 percent of Irish people said it was acceptable to allow a child to smoke cigarettes and cannabis, although over 90 percent said it was never acceptable to do so.

70 percent of respondents to the survey said they believed they were a good parent.
 

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