For a meek, passive type of child, maybe.
If she had spanked her child in front of everyone simply for saying, "Bye, bye, plane," she might've been arrested for child abuse.
Nah, in this case, the flight attendant abused her power.
> If she had spanked her child in front of everyone simply for saying, “Bye, bye, plane,” she might’ve been arrested for child abuse.
Our gummint in New Zealand recently passed a Bill removing the “reasonable force” defense in the Crimes Act for parents who discipline their children. It was an immensely unpopular move, driven by the Green Party, and it will cost Helen Clark the election in 18 months time.
Since passing this law, Helen Clark’s Labor Party has fallen way behind in the polls and looks unlikely to recover the ground that was lost.
As it sits now, it is up to the Police to decide whether “abuse” has happened, or merely trivial parental discipline. This situation is unlikely to be allowed to persist with a change in government.
From the sounds of it, the US needs to define in law what is “abuse” and what is “parental discipline” — as we will need to do in New Zealand.