Taiwan Mulls Banning Parents' 'Physical and Mental Violence" Toward Children

TaiwanPlus News

The Cabinet wants legal limits on how parents can punish children, with an explicit ban on "physical and mental violence" in order to prevent child abuse. But some parents foresee problems with its proposal.

Transcript

00:00Attitudes towards the punishment of children in Taiwan have changed sharply in just one generation.

00:06The law allows parents to punish children, quote,

00:09within the limits of necessity.

00:11And many parents these days interpret the limits of necessity

00:14a lot more gently than their own parents did.

00:30But child abuse remains a social problem often in the news.

00:45And the Cabinet wants to set legal limits to how far parents can go.

00:49It wants to replace the civil code article on punishments for children.

00:54The proposed new text urges parents to consider

00:57the age and developmental level of the child.

01:00And most importantly, it bans any physical or mental violence.

01:05It's early days still.

01:07The Cabinet has lots of persuading to do to get lawmakers on board with its proposal.

01:13But already, different ministries are painting the idea as a step in the right direction.

01:24And they say there are already resources in place for parents with questions about how to do that,

01:30from a national hotline to family education centers in each county.

01:40But some parents are unsure about the proposal.

01:44They worry it strips parents of their right to guide their children's development

01:48and that the wording is too vague.

02:04And so the Cabinet may have even more work to do if it wants its plan to pass with popular support,

02:11addressing concerns like these and winning over skeptics.

02:15Patrick Chen and John Van Triest for Taiwan Plus.

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