Spanking Child With Wooden Spoon Not Child Abuse, Says State Court

[cali]

98. yes. child psychologists, child rearing experts

In Child Discipline, Spanking Is No Hit

How long has it been since Mom or Dad swatted your bottom for getting into trouble? Probably decades, back when setting kids straight often involved spanking. These days, child-rearing experts urge better and safer ways of discipline.

Corporal punishment (hitting or spanking) can do harm. Very young children are easily injured, especially by parents with poor self-control or who don’t understand how little force it can take to seriously injure a small child. Following physical discipline, older kids can become more aggressive toward peers. Studies show that once children who have been spanked reach adulthood, they are more likely to become depressed, have suicidal thoughts, fare poorly in school, and abuse drugs.

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http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=1818

Spanking: The Case Against It (Ages 6 to 12)

By Rob Waters

Should I spank my child?

The short answer is no. When children misbehave or act in defiant, inappropriate, or even dangerous ways, parents want to show that this behavior is unacceptable and needs to change. Parents may erroneously think spanking seems like a direct and effective way to do that, but it delivers other messages that we don't want to send:

Fear. Spanking teaches your child to fear you -- not to listen to you or respect you. He may also be humiliated and resentful, and retaliate by being uncooperative. The result: You'll be less able to reason and communicate effectively with your children.
Violence. Spanking teaches your child that violence is an acceptable way to solve problems. Not surprisingly, perhaps, research shows that children who are spanked are more likely to fight with and hit other children. And other studies find that kids who are hit are also more likely to become violent adults.
Distrust. Spanking teaches your child that when you make mistakes, you'll punish him rather than give sympathetic guidance. It erodes trust and disrupts the bond between you and your child that will allow him to be confident and flourish.
Poor self-esteem. Many studies have shown that hitting your child can hurt more than his body: It can injure his sense of who he is. He may reason that if he weren't such a bad kid, he wouldn't get hit. Soon, being "bad" becomes part of his identity. Studies by the late psychologist Irwin Hyman and colleagues at Temple University have shown that regardless of how nurturing a family is, spanking always lowers self-esteem.

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http://consumer.healthday.com/encyclopedia/article.asp?AID=646298

It's called science.