A smack is just a gesture when they're very small (or should be). I don't know how wise that is--depends on the psychology of the moment I s'pose. My father was a prison guard and I remember vividly his telling my brother and I that when we got home we'd get twenty each on the bare bottom with his belt. Having about nine hours to think about it, and that Dad was a man of his word, was the worst part I think (if you got your hands in the way, it didn't count).
I've smacked my kids in anger a few times, always restrainedly, except once. On that occasion this son of mine was about four and I got angry with him because when I demanded that he get something or other, I forget what it was, he was just bewildered. I barked exact instructions; 'there it is, right there (pointing)'! The poor fellow could not see what was right under his nose and I smacked him, and then ordered him anew to do my bidding. In a state of utter panic, he still could not comprehend my meaning. I think I smacked him half a dozen times, hard on the bottom, repeating the instructions repeatedly, and he just became more bewildered and uncomprehending. That night when I bathed him and his younger sister (I was newly a widower) I saw my finger prints, blue, on his bottom, like faded aboriginal art. I've never smacked a child since, beyond gesture.
Children are our equals in everything bar experience, and we should do unto them what we would have done unto ourselves.
That same child, when he was younger, was getting into some harmless mischief one day and I said, "Eliot, NO!"; he looked at me and then continued with intent. We repeated this a few times until finally I smiled at my wife, looked at Eliot and said, 'ok, if you feel that strongly about it'.
Kids need guidance, discipline and above all example, but they don't need brutality.

Good for you, Squeers! You let him win one.

I agree with Robert that most of the criticisms of smacking also apply to the alternatives.

This line from the article sums up my view:

>> A 13-year-old said: “Parents think hitting children is sort of their right...I guess parents have gotta learn to respect children”. <<

Squeers

Your recollection was very moving - as I am sure it was a huge learning experience for you. Thank you for your honesty.

As a child my parents never hit me. At school in year Four, I was caned across the hands for something another child had done - I have never forgotten and to this day I remain suspicious of anyone who assumes they have great authority. The teacher who hit me was a middle-aged female - however I am sceptical of either gender who are judgemental and narrow-minded.

Neither my niece nor nephew are smacked and they remain two of the best behaved kids - with plenty of exuberance. Although I'd have no trouble hitting anyone who tried to lay a hand on them.

In conclusion; children learn by example and respect is a two-way street. Therefore, it is a good idea to think before acting in anger.

This debate is a laugh. The anti-smacking brigade have some very high-calibre ammunition - the National Committee on Violence (1988) recommended to stop violence in Australia we needed to stop smacking. Also to stop Aboriginal disadvantage and a whole long list of gun laws. Now we can see that the gun laws gave the community satisfaction, except those affected, and solving Aboriginigal disadvantage has been the huge success we know. Banning smacking MUST be next.

Its the only way its proponents lives will be meaningful.

I never considered the style of corporal punishment I employed to manage the personas in my lot as criminal. I regaled in the role knowing that "I brought them into this world, and I can take them out of it".....
I employed the single shot method; very rarely did any of mine get more than one. An immediate lightening fast four fingered blow to the back of the legs or the botty. What triggers the "fingers of fear" is obviously something dangerous, or it could be a mundane naughty act that was the culmination of many other such acts within a relative short space of time. When does it stop, when I believe they should know better of the act. Time out with absolutely no parole, except in case of fire, was and is a regular part of the landscape...they disappear...for a while.