In general terms violence is bad. Smacking a kid is correct if not excessive.

I'm kind of taken aback by all this "if you use violence to discipline your children then you've failed as a parent" and it is somewhat insulting considered that I was spanked as a child and I'm pretty sure my mom who is a single parent raising two kids while taking care for her mother since her husband passed away last year is a bad parent.

when my mom disciplined me it was a swat to the hand/wrist or was swatted on my butt, I don't think it can be considered violence if there is no malice intent, it's not like my mom punched me in the face, kicked me in the gut, and then threw down a flight of stairs just because she could. it taught me right from wrong, and to not make stupid decisions knowing that there will be a consequence for my actions, i think it's what called "negative reinforcement" in my psychology class.

The law is fine as it is. Spanking by itself is fine, but you shouldn't be trying to cause any permanent damage.

I agree parents baby kids too much nowadays even though I feel really old writing that. I had a healthy fear of my Dad growing up he only smacked me around twice. But it kept me in line for life LOL.

The problem with making it legal for a parent to hit a child is that it becomes difficult to determine where the line is drawn between a smack and child abuse. If it's illegal to smack a child then the line is black and white.

I don't think that smacking is a necessary part of parenting.

Just out of curiosity, how many of you that are against spanking actually have kids?

i concur...

i was spanked and disaplined serverly as a child, i think i turned out pretty well.

my parents love me and care about me, and they did what good parents should

Well, I have both parents still together and they successfully raised me, my sister and my brother without a single smack.

Really? turned out homophobic and to hate and generalize a very large group of people.

Spanking/smacking should be used rarely (IMO never) but Euphoria puts across a good example of it.

Regular spanking does not make you a good parent. Lazy, uneducated and bad? Sure.

A good smack is what some kids need to keep them in line. if the parents want to do it, then thats fine.