Now you have got it, JLM. You have pinpointed the reason why spanking is popular with some; it is the easy way out. Parent is much bigger, stronger than the child, it doesn’t take any effort to spank the child. It also solves the problem, temporarily. The child stops doing whatever it was doing to cause the spanking, for a while. It also usually makes the parent feel good, he gets the satisfaction that he has done something to solve the situation. But the damage caused can be long lasing in some cases.
Not spanking is more difficult, one has to be creative in coming up with punishment, perhaps one has to take time to talk to their child, try to get through to the child, find out if there is any reason why child is behaving that way that the parent is unaware of. These are all difficult options and take time. That is why some people take the easy way out, they resort to spanking.