GMB's Richard Madeley reflects on being hit by father as he admits it 'wasn't right'

manchestereveningnews.co.uk:

On Good Morning Britain, Richard Madeley openly shared his experiences of being disciplined with physical punishment as a child.

In conversation with co-host Kate Garraway, the topic came up amidst discussions around legislation prohibiting parents from smacking their children in certain parts of the UK.

He recalled how in the 1960s it was not uncommon for fathers to use a cane on their children and noted: "I was, repeatedly and painful!

These days, it would've landed them in court, never mind a change in the law now, it was tradition. At school, we all used to change stories about how we'd been hit with sticks." When Kate enquired about the impact of such discipline on him, Richard responded with a resolute stance against physical punishment stating: "It made me absolutely determined never to hit my own children." Reflecting on his past, Richard expressed his longstanding belief that such disciplinary methods were inherently wrong: "I knew, even if the culture said it was ok at the time, I knew as I was growing up that this wasn't right. "This was wrong; I knew that the fear I used to feel when my father would go and get the cane because I'd done something minor and I was going to get hit three or four times with it; I knew that that was wrong." Father to Jack, who was born in 1986, and Chloe, born in 1987, with his wife Judy Finnigan, Richard emphasised the non-negotiable nature of his decision regarding his children.