......I came from the generation that used corporal punishment, I did, my parents did, my grandparents did, my great grandparents did and so on......we all lived and I don't think any one of us liked getting spanked but darn well knew we deserved to be punished.
Punished?
Absolutely.
Taught that certain behaviors are not acceptable.
But we've learned alot haven't we?
I know my father's father rarely if ever told him he loved him.
I know my Dad tried to improve on that.
And I tried to improve on the example I was given.
I have.
And I fully expect my son to be a better father than I have been.
Sexual abuse, not relating that to spanking, but giving an example, is nothing new.
Some think it's unique to modern society because of the attention it gets today.
But there is no evidence to support that it occurs with greater frequency.
It just appears that way because we're sensitive to it, it's being talked about more openly.
Child labor laws now protect kids, at least in some countries.
What I'm trying to say is that just because something was commonly practiced before doesn't mean it was beneficial.
It's simply the way it was.
As you noted, bikerchic,
FWIW my own children are not spanker's they are time-outers. My grand kids are pretty well behaved as I was as their parents were. Now I would not use spanking as a means to punish a child there are plenty of other things to do to get your point across and I do think it encourages or teaches them to hit their siblings.
It would appear that the lack of spanking has not had an adverse affect on your grandchildren.
I'm sure you're very proud of them.