 As a pediatrician my primary concern is to ensure that all children have the best possible health and well-being. They have the right to be protected from all forms of violence and this includes physical punishment in the home. Unfortunately as part of my work I do see bruises and marks caused by smacking. While some parents smack their children because they believe it will improve behaviour a recent large-scale study showed this not to be true. In fact it found that physically punishing children worsened their behaviour and was not effective. No physical punishment is completely safe as there is a risk that things can escalate quite quickly and unintentionally. I often hear smacking never did me any harm but that doesn't make it right. If it's not acceptable to hit an adult why is it acceptable to hit a child? We should be leading by example and hitting someone is simply not okay regardless of age. I'm pleased the law in Wales is changing as it gives children equal protection from violence as adults.