Losing the rights to discipline

In response to the letter "Children get values from their parents", printed on Monday, March 5, sent in by R Greenaway, of Telford.

I would agree with the statement that the development of children in the social and cultural sense is carried on within the family.

However, as to the comments about present-day society and parents having less quality time with their children - and about 28 per cent of children coming from single parent homes - I beg to differ.

If we look back in time you would always see respect and discipline - some might even remember fear - no matter what a child's family background was, be it one parent or two.

In taking the power to discipline children away from schools the knock-on effect has been that children are not respectful towards their teachers and if they are allowed to get away with murder at school they will.

And, alas, the power to discipline children has been taken away from parents too due to legislation. The result - further disrespect towards the child's own parents.

What I am trying to get at is, in my youth - yes, I felt fear; yes, I respected the teachers; yes, I was disciplined by both my parents. I have kept that discipline to a certain extent.

My children do not fear me, they respect me. As a result of my discipline within my own home, the knock-on effect is that my children show respect to others. It is a parent's right to be able to bring up their own children how they would like, not to be told.

Wendy Brown, Powys