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Way too many broad strokes in this thread.
I reckon it depends entirely on the child. A spanking need not be an expression of the parent's anger at all, but rather an effective deterrent for a particular type of child. I know the new mode of thought is that this is somehow assault or child abuse but that's awfully heavy-handed speaking as a third party. Kids have unique personalities just like adults. Some adults are motivated by negative consequences (avoid bad thing that happens to me), some adults are motivated by rewards, some are motivated by achievement, some are motivated by others, and most importantly everyone is motivated by a combination of the above.
I feel like we've had this thread before, and I've said that the only effective discipline my parents ever gave me was physical. Time-out and locking me in my room wouldn't be effective, because I have a particularly antagonistic and stubborn personality when someone tries to punish me. I would have (and did) goad them into submission once they realized it was having the opposite effect. My sister, on the other hand, was not motivated by negative reinforcement at all. She rebelled even more as a result.
The answer? Yes, parents should be allowed to use all rational and reasonable methods of discipline available to them, but we ought to encourage them to consider what is most appropriate and effective for each child as an individual.
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