I reply to your "And you somehow think that assaulting the kid will make them more likely to obey those rules ? " I provided the bait and you took it hook line and sinker. The problem with the human species is that they all suffer from what I term the pendulum effect, only stopping at the extreme ends of an issue, and travelling fastest through the center where a balanced opinion may be obtained. I did not mention assaulting children and did not advocate it in any way, what I was pointing out is that there are times in which action is required before attempting to rationalise. Grab the child and remove it or a slap on the hand. Now that the danger to the child has been ameliorated one can provide rational arguments as to why the path they were heading was a danger to themselves. Your reaction simply goes to prove the point that it is dangerous not to have strict legal guidelines.  However it is a shame that this point had to be proven by a person who I had hoped would be rational.