About 5 times.. luckily Ive never had real cause to.I used to pretend that mychild would get a hard smack and tap her hand at the last minute. But daddy licks like what our generation got? I aint got the heart. But IMO for very young children who you cant reason with/ and their behaviour poses serious risk to themselves or others then its the only option. B/c if you cant hear you must feel.

The carrot and the stick are used equally by the wise man. Its a thin line though. But I know many a 'bad bwoy' who got seriouslicks as youths and still went buck wild as teenagers.

i am black and rightie but i dont unless it is a real bad thing and I dont smack, i spank

I don't have kids but I would never smack them. My parents never beat me nor my sisters and we turned out just fine, thank you. I did get smacked once or twice back in school in Ghana and it didn't change my behaviour. I just learned ways to hide it from the teachers and headmasters.

There arebetter ways to handle your children, other than beating them. My parents usually talked to me or made me write long essays in which I had to argue why what I did was wrong and propose ways that I could correct it. Lol, I have very unconventional parents. But I guess their tactics worked.

Oh yes, i'll beat my kids, it gives you a bit of character if u know what i mean. But I will know the difference between discpline and abuse.

Plus I believe beating set boundaries, it gives you the "FEAR"

I got beaten, and it helped me, cos there were just some things I knew i couldnt do with my mum. Plus there was also a very clear distinction between my friends who got beaten and those of them who didn't.

I hate having to resort to smacking. However, I find that at the end of repeating myself and speaking louder than normal, I have to smack. I suppose the feeling that I get after smacking is that "I am boss" or that I will get the response or action thaty I desire. The sad thing is that I usually feel guilty that I smacked my son. A wise woman (My Mother) always reminds me not to feel guilty for smacking my son as I am a parent who has to enforce rules and if I let down my gurad there would be no boundaries.

I have 3 boys and when my teen was younger I would spank him. With our middle son 10 spankings have no effect on him, so I have to use other methods on him to get his attention. Our 7 year old will get in line with a simple threat of a spanking. Spankings don't work for all children.

But there are times when you have too to get there attention and let them know that you mean business. Now, having said that if a I had a daughter, I don't know if I would have the heart to spank her. Since I am a man I understand the way boys think and what will redirect them.

I used to smack my son until I realised it made absolutely no difference at all!

When he was suspendedlast week, out of sheer frustation I hit him. When he was eventually let back into school the headmistress called me in as he'd told them all! Luckily she knows me (I'vebeen to that school so many times I should be on the payroll!) and knows my son, so she knows I don't abuse him, & I freely admitted to hittinghim on that occasion. He was suspended again yesterday and I just couldn't be bothered to hit him, so I just took his telly and xbox from his room.

It only hurts my hand (could never use the belt!) and I'm not sure if it doesn't encourage the child to use violence themselves.

Le Moor,

I believe in whatever punishment works best. When I was a kid I was whipped and sometimes punished. I don't have kids of my own, but if my kids were to act up, I would do the same way I was when I was young. I'm not against punishment or whippings whatsoever. It's frightening how these child abuse laws have gotten out of control. It's funny my sister has three boys( My nephews) and she spanks/punishes them ( depending on which one is effective for them) and people look at her like she committed a crime. She doesn't react to their reactions. She tell them "And.....?" in a saracstic way and she'll say let's talk about your" perfect" children then they'' be quiet with her.

If they child isn't being abused, the government should get involved. They'll blame whippings for the aggresive behavior, but if you ask me , children were a lot better when I was young then they are today. There are millions of rules in favor for chilldren, but yet nothing is getting better and our supposed child welfare system is killing them, instead of doing the right thing. When you think about, what is the difference between parents wanting to spank/punish their kids and them( child welfare killing them?

Two weeks ago I told my son I wouldn't be hitting him again. The relief on his face.....

I thought that his would make him worse, but he's had the best fornight at school - so much so that, if he continues, he will be the "Student of the Week" next week. I'd never have believed it a fortnight ago!

Of course he's still pushing the boundaries, but I think being without his xbox & confined to his room with nothing but books for company had more of an effect on him than smacking.

Now, if he's rude, I ban him from the xbox for an hour at a time.

Let's hope this continues....