Look, it’s not like to shy away from the controversial comment.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that her most recent remarks — this time about punishing children — have already ruffled feathers.
The anti-immigration politician remarked on Channel Seven show Sunrise this morning that she disciplined her children with a “slap on the hand or smack on the backside”, provoking a heated debate with media personality Derryn Hinch.
“I’m sorry, I’m still from the old school. I’d give them a slap on the hand or a smack on the backside and that’s how I’d discipline my children,” she said. “And I’ve told my kids, that’s how I’ll be disciplining my grandchildren.”
Hinch stepped in to say: “That’s not your job, Pauline.”
But Hanson defended her controversial remarks, saying “No, hold on a minute. There’s a difference between bashing your children and there’s a difference to giving them a slap on the hand or a smack on the backside.
“You’re going totally overboard with political correctness and grand children,” she said. “If my children leave my grand children with me to look after them, they know the ground rules.
“Look, I love my grand children and I love children to death, and there’s no problem about that. There’s nothing wrong with the older generation and the way we were read and how we were disciplined.”
Hinch fired back: “No. Corporal punishment on grandchildren – you are wrong.”
“Oh, gosh. I’m not bringing out the bloody stick, Derrin,” a frustrated Hanson replied. “I can’t believe you.”
But Hanson’s comments were not the only ones raising eyebrows during the televised debate: in fact, the whole shouty discussion was sparked by a discussion around Jamie Oliver’s admission that he forces his kids to eat hot chillies as a form of discipline.
The celebrity chef told The Daily Mail: “I give them chillies for punishment.
“It is not very popular beating kids any more, it’s not very fashionable and you are not allowed to do it, and if you are a celebrity chef like me it does not look very good in the paper,” he said. “So you need a few options.”
Oliver’s admission has sparked outrage on social media.
” I hope Social Services go after him,” one Twitter user wrote.
One Facebook user posted on Sunrise’s Facebook page: “Chilli can be bad for kids strip layers off insides,” while another added: “Forcing something on anyone IS violence.”
“Abuse. Why not burn their hands on the stove since that’s not smacking either?,” another Facebook commented said.
Others defended Oliver’s unusual mode of punishment. “Genius. We use Tabasco [sauce],” one user wrote.
“Put mustard on my daughters tongue once for swearing she was about five… She licked her lips and said ‘yummy’… Grr So hard not to laugh,” another wrote.
Where do you stand? Where is the line when it comes to punishing children or grandchildren?
Top Comments
I find it strange that if my boyfriend were to smack me, or pour Tabasco on my tongue for swearing, he'd be accused of domestic abuse, and if another child in the playground smacked your child, or poured soap down their throat for saying something they didn't like, we'd call that bullying, but when it's a parent doing it to a child, it's discipline.
It's abuse. It might not be extreme abuse, but if it's not okay to do it to an adult, and it's not being done for safety reasons, it's abuse.
Children aren't adults.
If my boyfriend put tabasco sauce on me, I would call it foreplay ;-)
No they aren't. When kids discipline other kids, we call it bullying. When teachers physically discipline children, they're called abusers. When parents do it, evidently, we can't comment. You can discipline your children far more harshly than you can discipline your dog, evidently.
And as an adult, surely, of all people, I should be the most appropriate target for physical discipline, being that I have the fully developed reasoning capacity to enable me to make appropriate behavioural choices?
I've said this before, children aren't adults.
If you step out of line, the police certainly can use physical force against you.
Children do understand rules, but they do push the boundaries and sometimes saying "No little Johnny, we don't touch the stove" just doesn't cut it if you have a wilful or dimwitted kid. There's nothing wrong with a little smack to inflict mild, temporary pain.
Thank you for explaining what is inside the nutshell.
I have to say I agree with smacking in the right circumstances, I experienced both a beating and a disciplined response using smacking at around 8 years old.
In the first instance, my mother who was fiery lashed out and started hitting me with the wooden spoon which did not hurt. In her fury it broke on my backside so I laughed. In her anger, she then grabbed the nearest thing, a heavy wooden clog (it was in the 70's) and started giving me a serious painful beating on the back of the legs. All I can remember is how resentful I felt and how my legs turned to jelly.
The other occasion, I was helping my father wash the car and started pouring water up the exhaust and was told to stop, which I did. Later that day I went out and put the garden hose in the exhaust and let it run for half an hour. I still don't know why.
Of course when the car would not start and I was busted. My father calmly sat me down, explained what I had done and that I had been warned not to do that and I received two stinging open handed smacks on the bottom and was sent to my room. I understood I had done the wrong thing and the reason for my punishment which made sense.
I learned nothing from my Mother but a lot from my Father.
I wonder whether if your father had bothered to explain to you why you don't put water into the exhaust, the whole situation could have been avoided?
I'll take a wild guess.
Because I was 8 years old and did not understand internal combustion engines and exhaust fumes, mufflers and the chemistry behind their emissions.
Why are you picking on my dad for Christs sake?
Funny, all my Dad had to say to me was, "If you put water in the exhaust, the car won't work. Then I can't take you to Girl Guides."
I find it strange that people think you can't possibly simplify things to an 8 year old level. I think it's because they're too lazy to try. It's just easier to say "Don't do it" and then give them a smack. Of course, it doesn't promote any sort of understanding in the child of why the behaviour is wrong. In situations like yours, it also stifles natural curiosity.
Agree!