I have to wonder about this. The uk has a push to ban smacking of children, hitting a child with the goal of displining them, and new zealand apparently has had this law and is reviewing it now. The arguements is that showing volence to children encourages it, that it is psycholigically damaging and dimishes the child.
My question is, What about previous generations? Was The Greatest psychologically damaged? Was any generation before that? The way I was told about it by my father was that everyone got hit, teachers were some of the people doling out the discipline. So this isn't an isolated thing. This is something that the vast majority of a generations have delt with. My grandfather had his left arm broken a few times because he was left handed, it encouraged him to use his right had like anyone else. My grandfather was not a damaged person. Hell he was one of the most well adjusted individuals that I knew. My father, while he was left handed as well that was left alone he was still hit by his teachers, his step father hit him. And he's an amazingly gregarious person.
Now I want to temper what I am saying. I am not saying you should beat your child, or that it is the only way to discipline. But I believe that physicial punishment should be a tool to discipline children. To be honest it really should be the last thing you do to discipline a child, when you have exhausted all other punishments.
I was punished in variety of ways through my life and the one this that always really got my attention, what made me stop what ever it was was just the threat of a spanking. But that really only worked after I knew what it was.
~z