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I come from a family of four boys and my parents used to beat the hell out of us for anything we did wrong. In hindsight, it never worked, and only made us into angry, violent people. I would never raise a hand to one of my three boys. Violence against your own children is nothing but your admitted failure as a parent to instill proper values in them.

Nobody advocates "beating the hell" out of anyone. If you think a few well places smacks on the ass of a child is considered "beating" then I suggest you have the problem. Perhaps your experience as a child of getting beaten for anything at all you did wrong has caused you to feel this way.

When I was 8 years old I refused to do something my mother asked me to do. I used the one word I had been told not to use to my parents when asked to do something (No). I was warned a half dozen times to do what she said or face the consequences "when your father comes home". I refused, dad came home and at 8 years old had a leather belt laid across my butt for each "no" to mom.

It was the last time I said no to either of them (not that I would EVER say no to my dad.) This was not uncommon in the timers up thru the 1950's and into the early 1960's.

Not to be disrespectful to your beliefs but you have to be insane to believe kids today are better behaved then they were in the past. Even Dr Spock admitted he screwed up when he advocated never saying no to children because it would inhibit their growth.

My mother would regularly beat me...almost exclusively over the grades I brought home. Once, she held a gun to my head and told me to call my dad at work and say goodbye.....this for bringing home a "C" on a report card. It was at that point that I realized she was nuts, and vowed to never hit my children. I remember telling her that I would never hit my own children, and she scoffed at the idea. Like another poster on this thread, when the time was right I left home and went far, far away.

I currently have two children...11 and 7...and have never hit them in anger. Somehow, they have grown up well adjusted.

Proper spanking is not violence against children. Personally, I think around 5 is a good cut-off for spanking. After that, you can do other things. Before that, spanking IMHO is for getting their attention. A couple of smacks on the legs, just enough to hurt but not leave marks, is plenty adequate. Get their attention then deal with the problem. And children are different. Some don't respond to spanking at all and others do.

As a child my siblings and I were "spanked" every day for one reason or another. The problem was there was no actual "correction." Over 90% of the time we had no idea what we did wrong.

Spanking for discipline is good if it is appropriate, is not done in anger, is done lovingly and if it teaches proper behavior.