So, do pro-smackers assume that it was the smack that did the trick and not any of 10,000 other positive things in their upbringing? Smacking had no positive outcome at all in our house. My brother and I literally beat each other black and blue, blaming the other for our "smacks" (these were "smacks" as defined here, not "beatings"--short but sound swats on the butt. Not even painful). I was four at the most and remember very clearly feeling humiliated and not at all sorry for whatever I had done to "earn" it. Didn't teach us a thing about respect and certainly not about boundaries, as we felt ours had just been violated.

And there is a huge difference between spanking and doing nothing. Making no effort at all at discipline is as big a disservice as slapping a kid around, but it is not at all the same thing as simply not spanking.

And I apologize for jumping to conclusions, Bernard.