Although Croatian parents say physical punishment of children has been decreasing over the past decade, many still believe that it might be warranted in some circumstances and are unaware that it is legally prohibited in Croatia, according to a survey by the Hrabri Telefon non-profit which helps abused children.

The survey’s findings were released on Monday, to coincide with SpankOut Day, observed worldwide every year on April 30, to promote non-violent methods of teaching children appropriate behaviour.

The on-line survey conducted in August 2017 by the Hrabri Telefon included answers from 500 people polled across Croatia. The results showed that as many as 41 percent of respondents did not know that physical punishment is legally banned in Croatia, while 49 percent said they thought that the practice of corporal punishment of children has been in decline over the past decade.

One in three people polled said corporal punishment should not be prohibited for parents raising children, and around half said it was justified in certain circumstances. However, the vast majority, or 93 percent, said physical punishments should be legally banned in kindergartens.

The survey showed that in raising children, parents relied mostly on their own family home experiences and 72 percent said they had resorted to imposing bans on the use of gadgets, or had grounded their children for social events as an alternative form of punishment.

Around 20 percent of mothers and 9 percent of fathers who admitted to have physically hit their child said they only did it because they felt tired and helpless trying to discipline their children.

The survey was conducted as part of a two-year project which aims to raise awareness of the problem of corporal punishment of children in Croatia, Latvia, and Poland, and co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship (REC) Programme of the European Union.

According to UNICEF, physical punishment for children has been outlawed in more than 60 countries of the world, although around 1.1 billion parents and caregivers still say it is necessary to teach children how to behave. The first country to enact ban for the practice was Sweden, in 1979. The number of countries enacting bans grew rapidly after 2006, when UNICEF recommended outlawing the practice, Index.hr website reported earlier this month.

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