Take it from someone who has spent many years working with kids with significant behavior problems. Almost every single out of control kid I've ever worked with got their asses beaten regularly. These days, much of my work is with incarcerated adolescent boys. Again, nearly every single one of them has had many ass beatings. Clearly, the ass beatings did not help and, at least in my opinion, those ass beatings made things much, much worse.

The problem is NOT a lack of ass beatings. The problem is too many parents who are too #badword#ing lazy to spend the time necessary to teach their kids basic things like right from wrong, empathy for others, and simple good manners. It takes effort, and too many parents these days are too self-involved to put forth that effort.

Ass beatings, spankings, or whatever you want to call them, are a cop out. If you spend enough time with your kid and employ some basic parenting skills, the perceived need to hit your kid will seldom, if ever, arise.