JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Leasa Britton, mother and grandmother, is a strong supporter of corporal punishment.
"You either whoop them or they're gonna whoop you," Britton said.
But she draws the line at spanking kids in full view of other families, and likes the idea of making Jacksonville city parks, buildings and facilities "Hit-Free Zones."
"I think that's a pretty good plan," Britton said. "I support it."
Council member Garrett Dennis introduced resolution 2018-171 at Tuesday's meeting.
"Jacksonville public facilities, public buildings is a place of safety," Dennis said. "A place where violence will not be tolerated."
If it's approved and implemented, the city would put up "Hit-Free Zone" signs and train employees in what the resolution calls "supportive intervention."
The program discourages hitting between adults and adults, as well as children against children, but puts a special focus on adults hitting children.
"Violence against children puts them at risk of developing increased aggression, antisocial behavior, and mental health problems as well as physical injury," the resolution reads.
The Hit-Free Zones aren't Dennis's idea, instead, he was approached by Wolfson Children's Hospital, he said.
The resolution does not go into detail about what is defined as "hitting," or the consequences for hitting in the zones.
I training PowerPoint provided by Dennis, says those that have been trained should safely intervene when they observe hitting, spanking, or slapping.
Jennifer Munson is a mother of three and a nurse at Baptist Health, which she says is another hospital planning to create similar spaces.
"I think it would be a great thing for the city to support," Munson said. "I think it makes people uncomfortable when they see a parent being aggressive in public with a child. I think reserving those zones as no-hit zones is a really positive change that we could see in the city."