Anonymous:
It's all about when you do it, how you do it and why you do it...It's important to save a spanking or slap for something important. But you also need to know what works for your family. If you don't want/need to spank don't, but it's wrong to say we are wrong for doing it.
My mother spanked me and my brother and I learned from it and I can safely say that if I got spanked I deserved it and I never repeated the act.
The way you describe spanking certainly sounds like it is done in a loving and caring way. (Though I still think there are other ways to handle that type of situation, but that's just my opinion.)
However, my comments were directed at the original poster who claimed that children who are spanked are upstanding citizens and those who are not spanked are selfish and just generally bad. I think you are taking my comments out of context.
Certainly, everyone has the right to make decisions that work best for their families, but to wholesale state that spanking is OK, is not a good idea.
Spanking, again only in my opionion, opens up too many issues. I don't every want my child to think I'm a hypocrite. When I tell my child that hitting, slapping, biting and other forms of physicalness is wrong, I think it would be wrong of me to turn around and hit as a way to drive home my point. I believe that children learn by example, I teach my child to be respectful of others and that means I must be respectful toward him.
Again, just my opinion. There are other opinions out there, but since this is a forum for dialogue, I just thought I'd throw it out there.