A survey revealed that many parents still resort in 2022 to certain educational violence, including spanking, to educate their children. Disturbing practices that go against the law. Details.

[Updated October 18 at 9:35 a.m.] In June 2019, the bill on the prohibition of ordinary educational violence was adopted by the National Assembly. Prosaically called 'anti-spanking law', it definitively prohibited the use of this physical punishment to punish your child. Widespread, and even trivialized for many years, this punishment turns out to be well rooted in parental mores. Because despite the ban, some educational, physical and psychological violence, continue to be widely used today. A barometer , the first on the subject, conducted by Ifop for the Children's Foundation, questioned in May 2022 precisely 1,314 parents of children aged 0 to 10 years. He draws an alarming conclusion: 79% of parents said they used at least one form of physical or emotional abuse for one of their children . Among them, spanking is still used by parents on their children.

Nearly 2 in 10 parents still spank

The law of 2019 is formal, all parental authority must be exercised 'without physical or psychological violence'. Spanking, blows as well as insults, humiliation or emotional blackmail on children are strictly prohibited. . But in practice, the reality is often different. Even though it seems like ' physical violence is down. and that there is parental awareness 'it's still not enough', highlighted Clémence Lisembard, member of the Foundation for Children, at Sunday newspaper . The proof : 23% admitted to spanking their child , 20% jostled and 15% gave a slap . Many parents are even unaware that these forms of violence are prohibited (37%).

Very common psychological violence

Faced with these figures, admittedly small but worrying, another trend is emerging, that of psychological violence which is very present because most of them are misidentified. “Psychological violence is still poorly understood” , explains Clémence Lisembard to our colleagues. According to the survey, moral violence is the most practiced by parents . 55% of them admitted to 'screaming very loudly' after their child , 48% having put him 'on the corner in his room', 46% having 'deprived him of something' because the toddler was not listening or 42% of parents have 'promised something to obtain obedience' , which is nothing more or less like blackmail. In another register, psychological violence also takes the form of menace (19% of parents use it) or insults , 18% have already called their cherub 'good for nothing', 'bad', or 'a fool'.

Educational violence a vague subject for parents

The debates, like that of 'File in your room', still raise certain questions. For parents, the subject of educational violence is still very vague . In the survey, 72% said they know what the ordinary educational violence , and only 38% claimed to know precisely. Among the actions they recognize as being ordinary educational violence, we find first the insults: 'calling 'good for nothing', 'nasty' or 'idiot' (64%) then 'spanking' (63%).On the other hand, the least well-identified acts of violence are 'locking them in a room for a few moments' (51%), 'threatening/promising something to obtain obedience' (50%) and 'depriving them of something in case of disobedience' (48%). For Vincent Dennery, director of the Foundation, 'it is crucial that families are aware of the prohibitions in the education of children.'

Source journaldesfemmes.fr