Considering some of the music kids listen to these days, taking a hammer to it sounds civilized.
I have to laugh when I think of the father kicking the boom box across the room.
I have no problem with correcting a child with a belt either.
I tend to disagree with parents beating their kids with belts. Smacking a kid with an open hand is ok but using a belt just seems rather sadistic to me.
We had belts used on us as kids, and rather than teach me respect it caused me to become resentful and hardened and rebellious.
To me it was the opposite. I did not like to be slapped, but the belt was a deterent. The belt could be used to correct in the future. I knew when my mother laid the belt on something (like the kitchen table) that I had better do my chores (and doing the dishes was one of them). It made a tool in the future and often prevented future correction.
Either works well and either works poorly. It depends on how the discipline is administered, not on the tool used. I was always spanked with an open hand. I was rebellious and afraid, but when an adult I felt the hand was a better tool because I would know for certain how hard the child was being struck. However, Dr. James Dobson (whose opinion is not to be sneezed at) believes that makes the hand an object of fear and the hand should always be seen as an object of love. A parent can put a belt down, but not his/her hand.
I will say that one time I did decide my son needed a healthier fear of punishment and I did strike him with a belt. It broke my heart, but after that all anyone had to do was mention Dad getting a belt out and things became quite calm. He never feared a spanking that much.
For the record, he is now 18. Total spakings: less than 5.
Total beltings: exactly one.
Shalom.