You should never, ever hit a child.

What? You're unqualified to say that it is okay to hit another person who did nothing to you??? Seems pretty clear cut to me. Hitting someone is for self defense, spanking is not self defense.

Then we have the spankers saying that society would be better if more kids were spanked.

Spanking is nothing more than bullying, but done by the two people who are supposed to love you the most.

[alien-parenting.com]

I had to raise four sons so there was no way I was going to role model hitting when I knew they were going to be bigger than me one day. Whenever I hear on the news of a son beating his mother, I just know she must have beat him as a child. There are many more effective ways of punishment like internet removal. To be honest, I did hit my two yr old once. he was going to run on the road. Too young to reason with, so I smacked him so he associated 'smack with going on road'. It wasn't hard tho but he didn't like it. Neither did I.

If kids are being assholes, yeah, they should be spanked. Not beat, but I see nothing wrong with spanking kids.

The research is very clear. Children who are hit learn that it's ok to hit if you are bigger and more powerful than the victim. Also, they're more likely to hit their peers. Sometimes it's more difficult to find a good way to parent without hitting, but nobody said parenting was easy.

I never spanked mine and nobody else did, either. I used time out then a system of actions=consequences.
Hitting children instills fear, not respect; makes them angry/resentful, teaches them that violence is the answer, and causes feelings of shame. Spanking might make parents feel temporary relief...but it’s not worth it. Hit a pillow, the pillow won’t care.

My kids thank me for the spankings they got as kids. Not at the time though ?