Here is my study on spanking: I have two older children that have occasionally been spanked. I could probably count the times on 1 hand. I mainly use grounding or taking things away. They are well behaved and have never almost never been in trouble in school. Citizenship grades, most of the time, are 100's or 99's or 98's. I have a younger child who is harder to handle. Groundings don't work nor does taking things away nor time outs. Spankings are the only thing we've found to work at home. We have tried a multitude of other methods. This child is also well behaved in school. She is a kindergartner, but has only moved her clothes pin one time at school this year. From practical parenting experience, I would say try other things first. Use spanking as a last resort. Never spank in anger. The key to discpline is consistency. Find something that works and stick with it until it no longer works and then try something else. The main thing is to love them enough to discipline them. It may make them unhappy for the moment, but in the long run it will make them happy, well adjusted, law abiding citizens.