No corporal punishment in schools, whatsoever. Period. Paragraph. I don't see any room for discussion on that and am horrified to learn it is still something that must be debated.
I remain deeply conflicted on the use of spanking by parents, having resorted to it myself out of sheer desperation when nothing else was getting the child's attention-- but I don't feel good about that. I think there may be some rare occasions where a smack on the bottom is what it takes to get a child's attention about something that is potentially life-threatening to the child or someone else (like running out in traffic, playing with fire, or going in the water without adult supervision/permission).
But time out, taking away privileges, being sent to bed early, etc., can go a long way in helping young ones learn to behave safely and appropriately in different settings. Discipline is not fun for child or parent, and it's not easy to be consistent; it seems lots and lots of parents these days have a hard time doing that tough love bit. Perhaps they are even outright opposed to it, I haven't interviewed anyone lately on the topic. But parents are supposed to be parents, not buddies to their kids. IMNSHO.
One of the toughest issues I dealt with when the kids were younger was how to handle it when other parents failed to discipline their children who were hitting, biting, otherwise being violently aggressive with my kids (with the bully's parents present and fully aware of what was happening). Parents of bullies don't often take kindly to requests for discipline from the parents' of their kids' victims, something I learned the hard way.
