Originally Posted by
mraynrand
I'm usually pretty hasty; you're just going to have to live with it.
There's a depth to corporeal punishment that shouldn't be missed. Drive by comments like Zool's look foolish. There are spankings that little kids get (smacks on their behind) that serve as a negative reinforcement when they do something dangerous like walk into the street. These are highly effective. There's actual punishment, like 5 hard shots with a belt for doing something pretty bad (this is the form things took in our house growing up). There's no doubt it was a strong reminder about consequences for bad behavior; I can report that it prevented bad behavior on my part. There are all sorts of bad hitting - the uncontrolled outbursts are all bad, even if they don't do damage , because having a parent out of control is really what sends a strong negative message. (based on history, I suspect this is true in the Green case).
On another note, there was a time when my brother and I were getting a little older (10-12 maybe), my Mom tried to spank us and she was so ineffective that my brother and I just laughed at her. It was all fun and games until Dad got home. Sort of a double backfire.