mekekelo Parents do not have a right to abuse their child.
I agree 100% with sentiment behind this statement. I would go further: "No one has a right to abuse anyone."
But terms like abuse are slippery and ever changing. Even worse they become "fashionable" (or political as in politically correct).
When I was a little girl, if a child misbehaved with a parent present and the parent didn’t take action the parent was considered abusive, not teaching their child correct behaviour. That teaching might commonly include a smack to the legs.
In the Britain of today, a smack delivered to a child’s legs is abuse.
The fashion has changed!
The right to “free” speech is enshrined in law. To insult someone can be considered free speech and is thus protected. A parent can thus insult a child by telling they are an idiot or stupid. But doing it endlessly, and crushing a child’s belief in themselves while being a parental right is still abusive.
There are all sorts of parental rights that can lead to abuse. Parents will claim they are protecting the child. When is protection abuse?
Sadly, I do not know how to write correct laws to prevent such. I only know abuse when I see it. You will never convince me that pressuring anyone against their will into a mechanical device that prevents enjoyment of their own body, is anything but abuse. But clearly it happens within the law, as several poor girls here will testify.
