Need a lesson in parenting? If you live in California, you may have to take one from the government whether you like it or not…

For critics of the ban, the current law — which states that parents, guardians and relatives can use any form of physical discipline that is necessary as long as it is not unjustifiable — is enough. But for Lieber, who hears criticism daily from prosecutors, judges and pediatricians that children are being beaten and their parents are getting off on a technicality, the law doesn’t even come close to being enough…

“By law you would have a hard time differentiating between a responsible parent who thinks about parenting and then hits and one that does not,” Lieber said. “Responsible parents have to give up the privilege to physically discipline their children for the sake of protecting children that aren’t being hit once in a blue moon or in a light way, but are really being hit day after day, many times a day.” …

“A hundred years ago it was considered a novel idea for the law to say you couldn’t hit your wife,” said Block. “Today, we can’t hit slaves, wives or military personnel. Children are the only class that is unprotected.”

Source: Time
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1581853,00.html