Playground behaviour

Collecting the wee wan from school yesterday (one of the pleasures of dolies), I note that there are signs banning smoking in the playground. Quite right too- who wants their kiddo to take up an antisocial, supremely pointless and addictive habit? One of the few cases where 'do as I say, not what I do' applies.

But not banned is the smacking of kids by parents awaiting pupils, and I witnessed a boy of about 4 yrs getting smacked stupid by his mum, not that he seemed to notice, care or become at all upset. That's what being smacked stupid means, I guess.

But let's not pretend I'm Mary Pure. Although the circumstances are lost in the mists of time, I did slap the big wan's bum once at the end of my tether, and then spent the whole evening in tears apologising to him. His memory is that the straw that broke that camel's back wasn't even his fault, but his sister's. Just shows how useless the practise is.