Karl Stefanovic has shot down suggestions that Australia should implement a ban on parents smacking their children.
The Today Show co-host said it makes “my head explode” at the thought of people wanting to legislate the way he should be raising his kids.
University of Melbourne Professor Sophie Havighurs appeared on the show in support of the ban, explaining to Karl that smacking has “effects on children in a whole range of different ways”.
“We now know that that doubles their chances of anxiety and depression,” she told Karl.
A furious Karl however shot down any need for legislation banning parents from smacking their children.
“I don’t want to see any more legislation around me as a parent, my head explodes,” he said.
“The idea of parents being charged or going to court for smacking a child, I mean come on give me a break.
“I just don’t want an incident with my child who will turn around and say ‘I’m calling my lawyer’.”
Professor Havighurs noted that 63 countries around the world have made physical punishment against children illegal including Scotland, Sweden and Korea.
Despite making physical punishment illegal, she said there hasn’t been an increase in prosecution of parents who hit their kids in any of those countries.
Instead, she said there has been a cultural and attitude change when it comes to parents hitting their children.
Co-host Ally Langdon piped in, confessing that her parents hit her as a child and it was to “straighten her up”.
“I don’t know about you guys, when I grew up, we were smacked – not very often, but it was just the threat of a smack that would pull you into line,” she said.
“If dad said it, he meant it or mum got the wooden spoon out.”
Images: Today/Shutterstock
This article first appeared on OverSixty.