// wanted to get everyone's take on discipline. Especially spanking. Do you believe it is helpful?//

Yes, extremely helpful :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_ucQVitRFs

Very interesting comments here. Tough love. Super nanny is interesting too. If kids get to become teenagers without discipline patterns tend to become more fixed

Yeah it's crazy because a while back spankings were the way to go, but now things are beginning to change.I know the Bible recommends spanking as a form of discipline https://biblereasons.com/raising-children/. My girlfriend doesn't want to spank our kids because she was not raised that way, It's cool to see the different parenting tactics. Not one is better than the other in my opinion. Whatever works for your child should be done.

You ask a question that, for some bought fears of very bad parents floging kids
Not one of us would support that
A flick on the bottom is far from that and works

The advice I got on becoming a parent is to reserve corporal punishment for instances where a child's behaviour put it at severe risk such as running across the road.

Both our kids got about 3 spankings in their lives, and none after the age of 5. and in every case the behaviour was never repeated.

Having had an extremely authoritarian, focused, pragmatic father, I had a life, as a teenager, of corporal punishment, employing the use of the strap, the garden hose and the electric or extension cord, but to name a few.
I grew up pretty much OK.
Because it was so long ago, and maybe because I deserved it, I do not think about it or harbour any malice.
Now when it came to my two boys, I never laid a finger on them.
I did not have the courage, or whatever the reason.
Maybe it was the memory of what I felt being physically punished, and did not want my flesh and blood 'suffering' like that.
I did not care about what they would think of me but more the fact that I didn't want to see them suffer or in pain.
Too soft, you say?
Possibly.
I believe it has everything to do with the mindset of the child.
Both mine turned out OK, except for the outside influences.
My parents, nor my wife's, or myself and my wife never drank, ANYTHING.
I have associated spirits to petrol, as I have siphoned enough of it in my day.
My boys have both taken to this social disease, which is disappointing even though we understand the rest of this country drink like fish to the point of destruction.
So we are not surprised they have taken to one of the most abhorrent Aussy social failings.
So my point is that we are what we are and of course we should discipline our children, but not physically.
Unfortunately the answer is, the parents have to redirect their focus and attention to their children, 24/7.
Imagine living next to a swimmingpool without a safety fence.
That's the way you end up with a better disciplined child.
The only problem is, we become complacent and let our guard down by 'giving them their head', which if we are honest is for the parents benefit, because they have 'other' things to do and therefore leave the children to their own devices, which always leads to trouble.