"Ass-whooping" is kind of a Southern euphemism. I can say I never got beaten, nor would I do the same to my son. But a good whack was all it took.

I don't view timeout, or as I put it, boredom, as a truly effective punishment because then, if overused, you view ALL boredom as punishment. School is punishment. Work is punishment. In essence, you've been negatively reinforced on the rest of your life, unless you find a sugar daddy. I was raised to believe I have to earn what I get, and while I do get bored at work, it's combined with the satisfaction of earning something to combine into positive reinforcement. Also, I did get paid allowance to do chores, but the 'manual labor' punishment was basically getting arrested and sentenced to community service, i.e. I have to do chores in addition to my regular chores, and NOT get paid for them. I feel this is kind of effective because unless you have a slacker employer who's going to fire you anyway, what is the punishment for doing something wrong at work? That's right, more work.

I know not everyone would or does agree with me, and that's fine. There is technically no right or wrong answer in this case without going to extremes (getting beaten with coat hangers, etc.) But look how much worse kids have gotten since a stigma had been attached to spanking. Sure, kids are always going to be bad, but doesn't it seem like kids are much worse than when you were younger? When I was younger, I saw a kids' parents give him a spanking for acting up in a grocery store and that kid sure the hell shut right up. Twenty years later, the same kind of kid throws a temper tantrum in another grocery store. Mom and Dad do nothing about it except say "No, baby, don't do that." This kid was throwing glass bottles on the goddamn floor and the worst he got was "Don't misbehave, my love."

Bullshit. If I'd done that, I'd have been lucky if my ass wasn't red. And back then, I felt as I do now: Never give a spanking unless it's deserved. I'm not going to spank my son for eating cookies before dinner when I said no. I AM going to spank my son for kicking the cat over and over again.