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A democratic development

Why was Sweden ahead of other nations?

“Economic development and the institution of paid parental leave decreased parents’ stress level. Technological inventions produced safer homes, lessening the need for harsh discipline,” Janson says. “Also, since more children attended preschool, it became increasingly difficult for

abusive parents to hide their children’s bruises.

“But most importantly, the continuous growth of a democratic, egalitarian ideal meant that more and more Swedes felt that all people — children too — should enjoy equal protection from

violence,” he says.

The general belief in Sweden is that children can be disciplined without corporal punishment. Photo: Cleis Nordfjell/Save the Children

Monika Sarajarvi coordinates the Swedish Save the Children’s European Program. “We are often asked by other nations about the prohibition, simply because we have the longest

experience of it," she says.

“Parents often ask us: But if you do not beat them, how do you discipline your children?’ We maintain that you can get very far with words and that the child-parent relationship should not nave to regress into violence. Usually people become very interested in alternative methods.”

Every now and then, Sarajarvi has to counter serious misunderstandings about the law.

“People may say that ‘juvenile delinquency has increased rapidly* in Sweden since 1979, that ‘many parents are sent to jail for spanking,' and that‘child murders have increased,’ none of which is true,” she says.

Getting the facts straight

According to Janson, the number of murdered children in Sweden is in reality very low, perhaps the lowest in the world. There is no evidence that the abolition of corporal punishment leads to higher crime rates. And parents are not jailed for a single spanking, just as adults are not

imprisoned for slapping another adult once.

Research also shows that serious child abuse decreases when countries abolish corporal

punishment.

“Small children below the age of five or six lack the mental capacity to comprehend the reasons for a spanking,” Janson says. “Nor can they remember that reason from one time to another. In the absence of a ban, then, parents are tempted to use harsher and harsher means, which in a stressful situation may turn into brutal child abuse."

Sweden today

Is all well in Sweden, then? Hardly. Corporal punishment has not disappeared. About five percent of all children are still spanked, despite the ban.

Jenny Ingarda, project coordinator at the children’s helpline BRIS (Children’s Rights in Society), says: “I usually point out that roughly 80 percent of kids are reasonably happy and well, about 15 percent are less fortunate, while 5 percent suffer a catastrophic existence in families marred by

drugs and violence.”

Some children are severely beaten as well as psychologically abused. “They tend to be taught that if they tell on the spanking parent, ‘Daddy will end up in jail,”' Ingarda says.

“Still, without the ban on corporal punishment, parents’ boundaries would be much vaguer and violence more common,” she says. “Decreasing violence against children is a slow process, but

we are moving ahead.”

(Read more about BRIS’s fantastic work on the right.)

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Related publications

• Children in Sweden: Growing up in Sweden — Fact sheet

• Safe You and Safe Me (pdf, 1.91 MB) — A Save the Children’s publication

• Promotion of children's rights and prevention of child maltreatment — Summary of Staffan Janson’s article in The Lancet

• Council of Europe Stockholm strategy for a more child-friendly Europe —

Swedish government press release

• The child care transition (pdf) — UNICEF report on children’s health

sweden.se/eng/Home/Society/Child-oare/Reading/No-spanking-please/

No spanking, please! - SWEDEN.SE

• The State of the World’s Children 2009 — UNICEF report

Related links

• www.savethechildren.se — Save the Children, Sweden

• www.bris.se — BRIS

• www.barnombudsmannen.se — The Children’s Ombudsman (Barnombudsmannen)

Jonas Freden

Jonas Freden is a freelance journalist. He has worked for Finanstidningen (Finance news), Sveriges Radio, Sweden’s public service radio broadcaster, and the daily Dagens Nyheter.

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sweden.se/eng/Home/Sociely/Child-care/Reading/No-spanking-please/

No spanking, please! - SWEDEN.SE

• The State of the World’s Children 2009 — UNICEF report

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