To spank or not?

[BrianG]

I got my butt whacked when I messed up as a kid, and I turned out fine. IQ is much better than some of my hick neighbors that's for sure! If done right and hard enough a couple/few times, it shouldn't be needed in the future. Kinda like the paragon of power; if you have the power and are not afraid to use it (and the kid knows it), then you generally don't have to use it. Even at a young age, I'm sure kids can make the association that bad behavior=pain.

I think that "time-outs" and "talks" are only effective if they work. If the kid doesn't respond to the passive measures, harsher measures (spanks) are needed. I also think that society is far too lenient. It's getting so parents can't smack their kid when they deserve it for fear of social services coming down on them. So what you have is a buch of punks that know there are no real repercussions for bad behavior, so they do what they want.