Spanking is the liberal nuclear option...

[catnhatnh]

...I raised 5 children and used it.I may have "spanked" perhaps 2 children a year through their formative years.Some times a spanking WAS a spanking, but more often it was 1 slap on the ass.It was meant to be shocking because it was NOT NORMAL....it was meant to deter behavior that simply could not be tolerated or dismissed.A child (properly) does not face legal or societal sanctions on their actions and when behavior becomes extreme it is the parents job to control the behavior....After my second marriage I gained 2 step children with whom I lived in a semi urban environment, and after I found they would not respond to a direct command (STOP!_when they ran towards traffic) for the first time in my life two children got a single swat on the ass...I don't apologize and neither do I recognize children given to my care to be peers...sorry..

[leanin_green]

1. Sorry you had to leave the oven in order to make a point.

I concurr with many of you points. Especially the one about not recognizing children given to your care to be peers. Nicely put.

[tuvor]

2. Don't apologize.

Especially to people who haven't walked a mile in your shoes.