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Madison Heights creates no spanking zones

Posted at 10:37 PM, Oct 06, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-06 22:43:01-04

Madison Heights City Council has established “No Hit Zones” in city-owned public places like parks, libraries, and police stations.

The zones forbid a parent to hit a child.

The resolution passed 5-1 at the last city council meeting and on Thursday the signs began to pop up at public places. 

“Basically it’s a nonviolence resolution,” said city council member David Soltis. “It calls for discouraging violence on any level; adult against an adult, child against an adult, adult against a child or a child against a child.”

Soltis proposed the resolution.

He said research shows the continuous negative effects on a child who is spanked.

Since it is not illegal to spank a child there is no punishment to a parent who does so in these areas. Soltis hopes it causes parents to pause before they do so. 

“What I wanted to do was to create a resolution and put up signs where we can have a discussion. I just wanted people to think about different ways to raise their children,” Soltis said. 

Soltis said this is one of only a few similar resolutions in the nation, but so far the only one in Michigan.

He hopes similar resolutions pop up in nearby towns discouraging bullying and violence used to punish a child.

“Nowadays there is so much violence in the world. I thought, this is our way of our little city of thirty thousand, we can maybe make a difference and maybe it can start to take off.”