I know I'm whining, but I wish corporal punishment had been criminalized a few decades earlier.

[Sancho]

94. Even if we criminalize corporal punishment...

(and when I first taught school paddling was acceptable); it still doesn't help decide what is "criminal" on one day and not allowed on a different day. Heaven help (pun intended) all those generations of nuns with their rulers! At least we don't throw kids on a ship as an indentured cabin boy any more.

For some parents, teachers, and even experts almost anything is acceptable to some but unacceptable to others:

medication
isolation (time out)
rewards
restraints (kids are handcuffed now you know)
structure (uniforms?)
humiliation
special diets
etc., etc., etc.

Some children hurt others, some seem to be hurting no matter what teachers and parents do, and some kids hurt themselves. It's idealistic to say it shouldn't hurt to be a child when many of the issues are simply economic and have nothing to do with corporal punishment! There is never enough time or opportunity to educate everyone who happens to be a parent or teacher in the way we prefer, so we try to create rules of what is acceptable. There is no agreement about the rules!