I voted that it is ineffective form of punishment.

I am 33 years old and I was spanked. First spanked with an open hand, then my dad got the bright idea of making 'nice' paddle that could hang in the panty. The paddle was inscribed with my name and my brother's name and stated "L and R we love you". This paddle was nicely stained and sealed. We were threatened by the opening of the pantry door more often than the use of the paddle however we were paddled on occassion. When I was 11 years old I took the paddle and hid it. I never 'fessed' up to the location and my brother held the secret as well. The week before I was married I took the paddle out of hiding and brought it with me. I will never use the paddle, and yet I can never destroy the paddle. I will say when I took the paddle out showed it to my mom while I was packing my things, she was amazed. She thought for sure 'us kids' destroyed it. We hid it in the best spot possible, our toy box :rollin !

Now with that being said, I cannot tell you a single 'behavior' I did that warranted the spanking. However when my parents were forced to use WORDS or loss of privledges to deal with our behaviors I remember what they did and said for each behavior that warranted the 'discussion' or loss. I knew what I did wrong, why it was wrong and how to avoid the problem again.

What a great topic.

Fern