You just convinced me to never spank my kid ever again.
Actually I was on the fence, but your words are a tipping point.
There's nothing as damaging as robbing your kid the discipline he/she has worked so hard to earn and deserve:
Proverbs
13:24 He that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes.
22:15 Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.
23:13 Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die.
23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.
29:15 The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.
29:17 Correct thy son, and he shall give thee rest; yea, he shall give delight unto thy soul.
Spanking with your hand is probably not a good idea. Nrither is mocking, ridiculing, or shaming him/her with the rod of your mouth. Rather, you need to use a rod of a size fit for the child.s age: for the baby, a soda straw; for the toddler through preschool, a segment clipped from the straight bar of a plastic hanger; for grade school, a sturdy ruler; after that, a willow rod. All should be applied to the seat of learning, the gluteus maximus. And the correction should be applied up to, but not beyond the point where the child ceases to resist and becomes compliant.
When one has come into some sort of reasoning relationship with God the Father, He disciplines through the Word, through the local church, and through social/psychological situations. But if one is not disciplined of God when it is clearly appropriate, that person had better examine himself to see if he be of The Faith, or only deluded as to his salvation.
Heb 12:6-11 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Modern psychology and its rejection of correctly executed corporal punishment does nothing but create more self-serving, incorrigible social warts and criminals, not redeemable by the schools, evangelists, or prison/welfare systems, from what I've seen.
In my own case, I was not chastened enough as a child and youth. Avoiding the confrontations with the razor strap may have salved my Dad's liberal conscience for the time, but was to my detriment and his shame as a pastor in later years. Until I finally came to account and shaped up, that is.