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There must be some way of maintaining control of children as the majority turn out just fine. I haven't lived in England for many years so I'd like to know what it is that's changed there. Who has taken away the right to raise children to be respectful, law-abiding adults? I know there are laws against the use of corporal punishment - and rightly so - but who on this earth has taken away the right to speak to a child? Punishment is a rather harsh sounding word which tends to be associated with physical abuse, but it needn't necessarily be so. Is there some new law that say's a parent can't stop a child's pocket money (there's no law which say's you have to give it to them as far as I know)? Is there some new law that say's a 13-14 year old cannot be given a set, early bed time by his own parents? Is there some new law that say's a parent can't curtail the use of a child's favourite 'toy' (read computer, i-phone etc.) for a period of time? Of course all of these "punishments" are dependent for their effect on being able to speak to the child and explain that it's the consequence of a certain behaviour so I cannot understand why it should be forbidden to speak to a child. What's wrong with teaching a child from an early age that human behaviour is always coupled to consequences - sometimes good and sometimes bad. Children are not born with a complete code of conduct stamped on their forehead. It's something they have to learn with the help of the adults in their lives. Getting through life is about making wise choices. Wise choice = good consequences. Bad choice = bad consequences. That needs to be learned as a child. Unfortunately I think there's a lot of truth in what Brettly say's. For some parents it's a case of 'anything for a quiet life'.