chastisement

As the elder berates her child for being a “bad bad girl,” the reader will hear the echoes of her own mother’s chastisements, a song of intergenerational despair.

He argued that unreasonable chastisement, such as beating a child, was already illegal, and voiced concerns the proposal could mean "a mum tapping a tot on the back of the hand" faces criminal prosecution.

She also called for an end to an exemption in assault laws that allows for the "reasonable chastisement" of children.

She admitted she did slap him on the back in chastisement, adding "it wouldn't have been gentle", but he had not been injured by it.

“Here, we see not a god of wrath and chastisement, but the God of mercy, who takes flesh and enters the world in weakness,’’ the pope said.