The last seven years have seen a hardening of disapproval for using physical means of punishing children. More people than in 2012 believe that children should not be subject to this type of punishment (a rise of 10 percentage points, to 61%) and there is more frequent opposition both to giving a good hiding (a rise from 61% to 70%) and to giving a smack (a rise from 25% to 37%). Simultaneously, there have been proportionate decreases in the percentages of adults who find corporal punishment in general permissible (34%, a drop of 11 points), and who agree with the opinion that a good hiding never hurt anyone (25%, a drop of 9 points) or that there are some situations where you have to smack a child (61%, a drop of 12 points). Although a majority of Polish people do not approve of corporal punishment in general, and particularly of hitting children hard (a good hiding), there is still widespread social acceptance of smacking as punishment, although this is less frequent than some years ago.

More on this subject in the CBOS report.