I was involved in a discussion a few nights ago that shocked and silenced me.

[Demo_Chris]

106. Spanking is hitting, yes...

It is the quick infliction of pain to make a dramatic point -- that this particular bit of behavior HURTS. Not that it might cause one to be in trouble, not that mommy doesn't like it, not that daddy yells... it hurts. It doesn't rely upon the child's understanding or compassion, it doesn't depend upon the parent's Olympian rhetorical expertise, it works on every animal including ones who cannot speak English and it provides the child with the answer to what happens when they ignore their parents. Pain.

I think this new age aversion to spanking is less a response to any negative long term outcomes (as there are none) and more a reflection of many parent's desire to do nothing in any case. It's not that spanking harms the child, it takes effort the parent didn't want to bother with anyway. They talk and they talk and the child still does what it wants, and what can they do? Why, they're powerless in the face of this terrible infant! All they can do is wait for their little sociopath to grow out of it.

In any case, ultimately there are ZERO available "ultimate" punishments that a parent has available that do not involve the application of some kind of force -- including restraining the child. Some parents would prefer to devote an hour to holding the shrieking hellion in a chair while they lecture (and whatever their intentions, most of the time they don't bother), others whack the miscreant on the butt and send him on his way.