Very young children cannot be reasoned with like an older child."don't play on the road" means nothing- they only think other children get hurt on the road.
"play in the road and you'll get a spanking" is more likely to instil caution and keep them alive.
ressoning with young kids on hand washing is interesting - they all know they should before eating, but most will not if they can get away with it. No amount of reasoning seems to work, so they make themselves and others ill by covering the food they touch in germs.
reasoning is fine, but the wisdom of ages shows spanking has its place.
gretteacher - children can be violent little cannibals without spanking too. Some children hit kick and slap their parents who have never been slapped - the consequences they quickly learn are lame. Is putting them in a timeout room any less cruel?
Each parent needs to make choices based on their child. Blanket rules don't work in every case. Lock a spanking parent away, and protect the child by putting him in a care home? How is the kid affected by the so called protection?
There are increasing numbers of little ones now being savaged by the dog because dogs are trained with sweetness and light, instead of how they instinctively establish behavior boundaries.
Id like to see the difference in 20 years between the kids brought up in either camp.
Remember too that little ones who play in the traffic, because they don't fear the parental reasoning are eliminated by natural selection very quickly. As are those who cannot be convinced that drink drugs and dangerous driving are bad.