The problem a lot of parents face is that they have no-one easily available to take over when they are exhausted, frustrated or have simply run out of ideas and patience. Corporal punishment by parents is rarely 'needed' where there is someone else there to step in and take over for a time.

As many fortunate parents would attest, a spouse or other family member is a most welcome sight when one's back is to the wall. It is a very great pity that the loss of the extended family that has been accelerated by short-sighted government policy.

What is forgotten in debates about (individual) discipline problems at school is that there are youth organisations that enthuse youth, get co-operation and are successful in fostering self discipline without resorting to corporal punishment. Still, there will always be some who do not fit in for whatever reason and that is why alternative public schools are sorely needed.

Nonetheless it is ridiculous to suggest that a parent should face a court for smacking a child.

While looking at a house for sale we heard the neighbour scolding her seven or eight year old boy for being a 'mean and violent boy' for doing what siblings often do, pushing his younger sibling over on the grass. She said it over and over like a broken record - it was her way of causing the child pain. The cause of the dispute was that the elder child didn't want to share his favourite toy. A smack, though probably unfair (what kid wants to share a favourite toy on demand?), would have been preferable.

Suzieonline,

"However, I think if we were all honest we would agree that a little tap on the backside by a flat hand for a serious breach of the rules for a child, will not leave any real lasting damage."

The same can't be said for some alternatives used by some anti-smacking parents who even refrain from smacking in the two classic smacking situations ie. safety and violence. Most parents smack a young child determined to put themselves in harms way and most parents smack a child if they hurt their siblings. But not all parents do it and some of those who don't use some pretty scary disciplining techniques.

I was at a park with my kids recently and a boy misbehaved. I think he hit his brother. His father talked to him then had him sit in isolation (in public) thus damaging the bond between parent and child by excluding the child from their company. For children to model good behaviour they need a safe and strong bond with their parents. If the parent does things like that to orient the child in a different direction it invites behavioural problems. (In fact previous parental conduct like that might have contributed to the misbehaviour. The boy must have been at least 6 or 7. My 3 yo knows that hitting a sibling is unacceptable and learned long ago that such behaviour was immediately unrewarding. The 7yo probably knows that his parents consider it inappropriate but probably enjoys hitting his brother and wasn't oriented toward the parent sufficiently to care what his father thought. He may even be immature for his age due to poor parenting and focus on the here and now without regard to adverse consequences even minutes in the future.) The father then set about to verbally torment the boy (again publically). Even if this had happened privately I can't guarantee there would be no lasting damage. Doing it in a public setting would add to the psychological impact on the child due to the humiliation. Kids suffer just as much as adults from public humiliation.

When I was a child I would beg to be spanked. When I performed an act my mother disapproved of she would yammer at me. The first sentence of the yammer was almost always, "That's the worst thing you can do!" Being a child with an extensive vocabulary I would retort, "How can I attain new depths of depravity with every act?" The yammering would continue ad nauseam. I would beg her, "Please spank me and have done with it!" NO! The yammering would continue. Occasionally my depravity plumbed such depths that my father was enlisted to provide corporal punishment when he got home. He would take me into the bedroom and shut the door. Knowing that my mother was an unreasonable alcoholic, I was a generally good kid, he was not about to challenge her and he was a kind soul he would say, "Get ready to yell!" He would take off his belt, give the bedpost a good whack and I would yell. After the bedpost had been sufficiently admonished we would come out of the bedroom with me sniffling. Since I was bothered with various allergies I was almost always sniffling anyway. Later my father would say, "I'm too easy on you. I was afraid of my father." I would say, "You're a much nicer father than he was." And so it went.

A good slap or 2 on bum, legs or hands is useful and effective discipline when applied at the discretion of decent parents without interference from State or misguided 'do-gooders'.

Having reared 3 children to responsible law-abiding productive adulthood using a variety of discipline techniques (depending on the situation, age and personality of individual child) I can attest there is but one rule MUST be followed: BE CONSISTENT.

If your children are given appropriate boundaries enforced through encouragement, discouragement and example from INFANCY, chances are you won't need to exercise hand, wooden spoon or other forms of punishment too often. If your child KNOWS there will be unpleasant consequences arising from bad behaviour EVERY TIME, that is usually effective.

Discipline will be largely waste of time and energy if the parent makes threats then fails to follow through or rewards pestering, tantrum throwing etc through capitulation. Likewise punishing junior for behavior imitating that of parent.

I didn't smack my children beyond age of about 7. Works best on younger children whose attention span and ability to engage in philosophical discussion is limited. Should be administered then and there at the crime scene when words have failed. No use telling the under 4 set "Wait til I get you home", they have moved on. Older kids respond better to more sophisticated 'psychological torture' as I refer to, tongue in cheek, in discussion with my offspring - who by the way are in close contact and seem pretty fond of their 'brutal' parents.

Myself - got proper 'hidings' up to about age 12 - usually with doubled piece of leather that left good welts. Not too often as the likelihood was effective deterrent. No hard feelings then or now as I was never punished undeservedly. Rather, my childhood was one of love, caring and very happy.

These days so many parents too stupid, afraid or brainwashed (by half-wits who come up with the most absurd ideas) to effectively control their offspring. Who suffers? Everyone - especially when rude obnoxious unfettered child grows into a like adult.