Background: Violation of a child’s right to protection is an issue for children all over the world. In Thailand, the greatest barrier to intervening in child abuse issues is the lack of awareness and the positive attitudes and beliefs on using violence as a way to discipline children. The incongruent definition used amongst Thai society and relevant sectors, causes incidences to be under reported and an obstacle to child survival and development.
Objective: The present study is a qualitative study and aims to explore the perceptions of child abuse and child discipline definitions amongst parents in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area in order to extend broader knowledge for interpretation, definitions and to differentiate the line between child abuse and child discipline.
Material and Method: Focus group discussions were used as the primary data collection method and content analysis was applied as the data analysis.
Results: The results produced two categories of parents’ perceptions regarding child abuse and discipline. First, was the perception of the causes of child punishment and child discipline, and second was the meaning and difference between child abuse and child discipline.
Conclusion: The study results would be beneficial for policy makers, health and related sectors to understand the meaning of the terms used amongst family members in order to apply and promote child protection strategies in culturally appropriate ways.

Keywords: Child abuse, Child discipline