ABSTRACT
By the time it reaches its first birthday, as we have seen, the Nottingham baby is more likely than not to have experienced being smacked by its mother. Sometimes the smack will be no more than a token expression of the mother's disapproval; sometimes it will be, very definitely, painful, and the baby will be left in no doubt of its mother's intention. Whether they do it 'quite gently' or 'pretty hard and sharp', however, the 62 per cent who smack have as their common aim the formation in the baby's mind of the concept of 'naughty'.
