IS it acceptable to punish a child by smacking?

That was the subject under discussion at an Oxford church. Blackbird Leys’ Church of the Holy Family hosted a day-long roadshow about corporal punishment in the home.

Members of the public were welcomed into the church, for Tuesday’s event, to discuss their views on smacking children and their experiences growing up, while schoolchildren took part in roleplay sessions and art exercises.

Campaigners led by the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, took part in a sunset candlelit procession to demonstrate their commitment to bringing the practice to an end.

The Rev Roger Burne, of the church in Cuddesdon Way, said: “There is a concern that it’s legal to hit children.

“If you enforce discipline by being bigger, shouting louder and being stronger, then the message you send is you can control people, by shouting and hitting them.

“If you exercise appropriate but non-violent discipline, then children learn that you can have boundaries and discipline in a non-violent way.”

He pointed to the way schools had adapted to disciplining children after corporal punishment was outlawed in state schools in 1986, adding: “We are dealing with our future generation.

“This community, as with any other community, has its problems with violence, but if young people of all ages are treated with respect then children will give respect.”

Roadshow co-ordinator Christine Dodd, of Churches’ Network for Non Violence, worked in partnership with the NSPCC and the Children are Unbeatable campaign to organise the event, which is touring the UK.

Ms Dodd said: “Some people said they were hit as children and they remember the humiliation they felt.

“Children are our most precious and vulnerable resource, and violence should play no part in their lives.”

eallen@oxfordmail.co.uk