Parents Warned: The strap is now a no go zone

"Old fashioned discipline" is now banned

A man having to front court because he used his belt to discipline his misbehaving son would have sent shock waves through every Australian community as little as 10 years ago.

Now our front page story on exactly that will be greeted with lots of comments, but it certainly will not come as a great surprise to most.

• MORE ON THIS STORY: Magistrate lays the down law on home discipline

I can't count the number of times my dad marched my brothers and I off to the bedroom for a serious talk.

We'd emerge sometime later with telltale marks revealing the talk had not gone well for the brothers. Did we always deserve it?

I'd love to say no, but the truth of the matter was many times we went off the rails and a reminder to get back on them certainly saved us from destroying our lives.

Dad just had to reach for his belt and our all important spats would stop in an instant. Our local magistrate once again used common sense when adjudicating on this case and she also used it as an opportunity to warn the public of what's expected in this brave new world.

Whether we like it or not the strap is banned and if you do it you'll get a nasty clip under the ears from someone you won't like to go and see.

Originally published as Parents Warned: The strap is now a no go zone