My parents never hit me. No offense to anyone from my comment, but just growing up the way I did, I find it hard to believe that some people need a reason to spank their kids. For me it was just a 'Look' and I'd stop whatever I did, hell, sometimes I wish I was spanked so the 'Look' would just go away.

But 20 years in my life, I'm close to graduation by skipping a grade in school, and fast tracking through university and hopefully (fingers crossed) going for my masters this year. I don't drink, smoke, steal (even download music from Ares or Limewire); I am far from the perfect person, and trust me, I've made my fair share of mistakes, but the way I was raised was to always value family a lot more then anything else. Using this ideal saved me through tough times through high school, never giving a second thought on stuff like getting wasted or high, or trying to imitate dressing styles to be accepted.

Someone also made a comment earlier about allowing teachers to be able to hit students. Going through a system that did allow this, I can only say that would be one of the worst things for your child. While I highly respect teachers, there are a few who will bring stress from their life and lash out on a student that happened to say or do something really stupid at the wrong time. It had happened to me and because of a bastard of a teacher, I have a scar close to my wrist. The parents should be responsible for the child's behaviour, not a teacher who has to deal with many other students.

Sorry, I've completely gone of tangent, but I just read the earlier posts about spanking, and wanted to add my $0.02 in.

I grew up in a highly materialistic city (Dubai for those who know) where showing of your wealth was the only way to prove your worth and status in society, and sadly these ideals were passed down to my generation. Kids would try to buy the latest and the greatest of everything, and try to imitate older people by doing "adult" stuff like smoking, drinking, swearing, etc. My family kept me grounded and I gained the maturity from it to be able to sort out who were people of value and people who just showed of their value; not to say I didn't have a temptation to be able to show off from time to time.