From what I've seen in Australia and the UK. About 30% of people are what you described them as.

The rest are essentially underachievers who want to get by in life doing the bare minimum and rely on others. Also watching the news just proves how these youths are actually worse than animals in the wild.

It is unfortunate to admit that humanity is full of unenlightened mongrels and apes. Not an advanced race capable of civilised discussion and disciplined actions.

I get so tired of hearing "young people these days..." We left them a mess and far fewer opportunities then we had. The young folks I know are talented, hard working and way less judgmental then we were. Kids these days give me hope that the future isn't lost!

We can't just say that physically punishing a child is wrong or that it has no place in modern society.

I agree that it is wrong to hit a child for no reason but one method doesn't work on all children. Some (like my friends and I) responded better to a few small but precise instances of physical punishment.

Also as for your upbringing, it sounds rough and all families have their problems. I get that, but to suggest that hitting a child is wrong in all cases is irresponsible. If your child was cyber bullying a student at their school and you found out about it, what would you do? Apart from the obvious "I'd tell them to stop" or have a long conversation with them. Would that work? maybe for you but would it work for all children? If the child continued to cyber bully the victim and they committed suicide. Would a sever conversation work?

If my child ever bullies anyone and even after a long and heavy conversation on their actions, continued to bully others. Then I would accept responsibility and physically correct their behavior because to be a good parent one must make the hard choices that will set their child on the right path.

@Lancer I can Lancer. There is not a person on earth who will or could convince me otherwise. And, I think you have seen here that the overwhelming majority of respondents are in the "No" camp -- and most didn't qualify their statements. With respect, I believe you are absolutely wrong and I hope that before you have children, you will continue to fully research your beliefs. At least I hope you don't already have kids -- if memory serves, you are 19, right?

Yes I am 19 and after seeing how people these days act with almost no regard for the people around them. I can say that they probably needed a fair bit of discipline (not necessarily physical correction) instilled into them.

I firmly believe in violence as a last resort and I've already thought of countermeasures for how to deal with insolent children. If or when I have them.

I will not allow my children to cause problems for others. If they were led astray and joined a terrorist group, did unjustifiable things to relatively innocent people. I would not hesitate to discipline them. Even if it means death.

The problem with society is that we only see what we want to see. Not everyone is a good person. Your neighbour could be a murderer or a pedophile but they could also be a nice neighbour.

All around us there are people who don't value life. Which is why they take lives needlessly. An example is the terrorist who ran over people in Sydney near Christmas time. He killed 6 people including an infant. He injured 30 others. If his parents had disciplined him and beat into him a value for human life then maybe the innocent would still be alive.

Not that I care. I respect your decision. But remember that most people on this site are not logical. They are too emotional. So their ability for rational thought is limited. Open both mind and eyes to see the world for what it is and not what one wants it to be.

From what I've seen in Thailand, Australia, US, UK, France, Hong Kong and a handful of other countries. There are way too many undisciplined youths walking the streets.
But that's just my opinion, it's not like there are riots in America or Australia or the UK or France. I'm sure setting police cars on fire, looting stores, raping and pillaging is normal?

Source would be something we call the "news". Even the mainstream can't hide it.
Disciplined people don't go out starting fires and looting, intelligent people go to work and earn money to buy things they need and want.

If you can't see this trend of violence then I just hope that someone shows you what's happening one of these days.

Also I asked "So, if your child stole something, hit an innocent person or did something else that was wrong. Would you physically punish them?"

As in, "if your child is on the path to becoming a criminal who steals, attacks and is generally aggressive. would you stop them?"

If your kids were well behaved then that is a blessing. It's nice to hear that you never got in any confrontations with them. I wish that was the same for everyone.

But if your child was ruining their life, would you wait and watch it happen or step up and make them stop by any means necessary.

Also not to be rude, but in the course of all human history. What method has and still is used to resolve conflicts?

Was it talking? Or maybe it was warfare, aka violence.
It isn't right and I hate that it is true. But we all have to accept reality for what it is.

I disagree. Where are these gangs of young looting arsonists? When I asked for your source I wasn't referring to the daily fail or any other sensationalist newsgroup that wants to paint a dismal picture of Britain's youth - exactly the same way they did with Teddy Boys, Mods. Punks, Goths etc.
Every generation claims that the new generation is less disciplined than the previous one. Every area will have an element of criminality, worse in some areas of social deprivation.

Crime figures in the UK don't reflect this - I can't speak for other countries, so I ask again, what is the source of your information? Please show me the evidence that corporal punishment reduces criminality.

You assert that warfare and violence have solved most conflicts in human history - I beg to differ - most conflicts end when enemies stop killing each other and negotiate a ceasefire/settlement

For clarification, I am a social worker with over 30 years experience working with young people, youth offending teams and schools and other settings.

It isn't corporal punishment as a whole that is bad or ineffective.
When corporal punishment is used constructively and with restraint it can be a useful tool in curbing the development of a child's growth.

But unfortunately in many cases, the improper use of corporal punishment (domestic abuse/violence) leads to the idea that it is wrong and useless with no real benefit at all.

When in reality there are many factors (social, economic, etc.) that affect how children grow up.

Corporal punishment is just one tool in the box. Most responsible parents would use it as a last resort but some irresponsible parents use it first (which is obviously wrong).

All I'm saying is, if your child was abusing, bullying or causing harm to an innocent child. Would you use force to stop them? Or let them keep it up and possibly cause the victim to commit suicide.

I would never unjustly use corporal punishment, but some people would. I can't control what they do, but I can control what I do.

I think there's a difference between restraining a child and attempting to condition through the infliction of pain. If my child was attempting to harm another child, I'd intervene by putting him in a hold, not hitting him. If he misbehaves, I'll force him to sit in a chair and physically put him back if he tries to get down. I don't spank him when he misbehaves. I wouldn't hit him to teach him what it feels like when he hits someone else.

fair enough.

No body likes to be punished but some people (like me as a kid) need it. Otherwise they would end up on the wrong path in life and inevitable make even worse decisions.

That's a good story, it shows that your parents were reasonable people and you were able to learn from your mistake.

My parents would've done the same.

You sound like a very responsible and morally responsible adult. I really respect and admire people like you.

You are correct, I should've said most people are out of control. The number of wars we have had in the last 2 centuries alone shows how uncivilized we are. Millions dead and we keep on fighting, because violence is the only language we can all understand. I hate it but it's a fact of life.

As for demonstrations. I've seen what the political left and right groups have done in america and I'm not impressed in the slightest. Both sides are equally as bad, except for the fact that the left seems to call everyone who doesn't share their views Nazis, which in my opinion is childish and undisciplined. It is disrespectful to the Nazis. I don't have much respect for the Nazis but I have even less for ANTIFA and their affiliates. Acting like apes and mongrels shows how they lack both intelligence and discipline.

I never said smacking kids on the head makes them civilized, that is your assumption. What I am saying is that although violence against innocent children is completely wrong. Specifically aimed violence is justifiable. When I played with fire I got smacked, when my sister started her rebellious phase she got no dinner and slept outside and believe me, she definitely deserved it after treating the whole family with disrespect. In these cases I believe that some harsh treatment is necessary in order to prevent it from getting worse.

The problem is that most people aren't intelligent enough to understand, think and apply the proper disciplinary countermeasures that are necessary to nurture a child into an adult. Which is why there are so many undisciplined youths.

Also my comment on licensing was just a general comment on how little we really care about raising the next generation. All people do is give their kids to the schools and expect them to be taught everything they need to know. Which is a horrible idea, throwing money into schools isn't the answer, it never was. But whenever the government is questioned about the children, they always turn to academic education funding instead of telling the truth which is, parents who can't raise good kids properly shouldn't have kids in the first place.

Also I don't advocate violence under normal circumstances. I've had people screaming racist comments in my face and all I've done was walk away.

@macrobius ..... hehehehehe I have a horrible mind hahahahaha sorry

I had a neighbor that used the "wait til your father gets home" routine, making daddy the bad guy. I was more of a "you messed up and now you have to deal with mean mom" type. My kids were far more scared of my wrath than their dad's.

@HippieChick58 Empty threats like that are the worst thing, bothers me no end. My ex husband used to say I was too mean and always undercut my discipline efforts. Let them get out of bed after bedtime, took them out of timeout if they cried and gave them icecream- stuff like that... Still irks me 10 years later ????

That's understandable.

The main point I was trying to raise by asking the question was that some parents won't even discipline their kids. They just let their kids do whatever they want without consequence because (unfortunately) they "love" them too much.

My parents loved me, which is why (although they didn't like it) they would discipline me. It made me the great man I am today. If they had let me run wild then by now I probably would've gotten to at least 100 street fights. But thanks to their guidance I've only had 3 (None of which I started).

I would never unjustly hit an innocent child. But if my child started doing things like bullying kids at school or cyber bullying. I'd do the right thing and take responsibility by instilling discipline into them by any means necessary. If diplomacy fails then pain and fear prevail.

@Lancer I just don't think it achieves the desired results. It is kinda like the death penalty. It doesn't curb behavior at all. We think that it instills behavior modification, but all it does is what anything negative reinforcement does: pass on those violent pacification blues. I think being stern (but not inflexible) on rules is a good way to maintain a healthy parent/child relationship. That's what I did. I laid down boundaries and made my boyo very aware of those boundaries. When those boundaries were broke, the known punishment was meted out. Which was generally 'a time out' for small infractions and grounding from friends, for larger ones. I think he only got busted a handful of times for anything. Though, his mom and me were often a part of whatever was going on, a welcome part, because kids thought we were silly....haha

That's more or less what I'm talking about. Not a full on abusive fight, just a slap on the wrist or a light tap on the head. Just enough to keep them on the right track in life.

Fair enough. I wasn't saying that physical punishment should be used in all cases, just in times when it's needed.

I have a friend who's brother became addicted to drugs and started growing weed in his shared house. My friend didn't know what to do, he didn't want his girlfriend coming over because his brothers friends might come round looking for weed. But recently their father put his foot down and kicked the brother out of the house.

I'm not advocating violence as a first option. But if it was my brother growing weed and putting my life in danger from druggies coming around to try and steal some crop. I'd probably do worse than just a serious conversation.