Well Talloola, I'm only going by what I'm reading throughout this thread. And I still believe I'm reading a lot of different interpretations of the term "spanking." I certainly have seen various degrees & styles of "hitting/spanking", which gives me cause to think that it just ain't all the same, which is what I meant by "all over the place." Sorry if I used an unclear choice of words there.
The point is, although it's an important subject to discuss, when you get right down to it, any parent will naturally feel they are "right" in their approach to these things, and it's very doubtful that they will be swayed by how another person sees it. I'm guessing that applies to you, and I know it certainly applies to me.
That doesn't make anyone "wrong"...it just means they at least have a mind of their own. If any of us can learn something from all the discussion, that is great.
However, I still think it is wrong to condemn how another parent raises their child just because their approach doesn't agree with someone else who happens to have a different approach.
Yeah, I can agree with you there, to a point, but I do hope
over the years, parents learn how to cope with the behavior of their children, by taking more time, learning to handle
children who are misbehaving, with more intelligent methods,
as hitting a child isn't the way to go, but it is harder
to figure out how to do it 'better'.
I have raised dogs for many years, 'no hitting', and very
well behaved animals, who are happy and not fearful of me
at all. It took some time to read, go to classes and be
part of training sessions to teach me how to do this, and
it is a very enjoyable companionship with an animal when
one can teach them to be a happy well adjusted adult dog,
without laying a hand on them.