I am a single parent of three boys, and I believe that spanking is necessary; however, the spanking I am talking about is hitting with just enough impact to catch the child's attention. I learned through my years of raising my children that when they are over the age of two, then spankings (my definition) works great!

Once they started school I stopped spanking them, because my theory was that they now had a brain between their ears, no pun intended, and they could now deal with a punishment. I would give them tedious chores to do so they could ponder on the action that got them there. The kids would, of course, have attitude and pout, but during the punishment would constantly be observant for body language that would tell me that they may have learned their lesson. I would ask them periodically "are you better now", "why are you having to do this chore", and they would either say yes with a good attitude or no with a bad attitude depending on if they had learned their lesson or not. One would think that they would learn and say yes with a good attitude when I would ask them if they learned a lesson, but they don't.  I just used their own minds and attitude to teach them a lesson, and that is how I now have three boys ages 23, 22 and 17 that make me proud. The oldest is married now for 3 years, the 22 year old is in college and the 17 year old started college at 16. None drink, never had the desire to, they have not tried sneaking out of the house ever, they don't smoke, don't stay out late, don't talk back or disrespect me or anyone else, the 22 and 17 year olds live with me, attend college, and they love hanging out with me. They are not womanizers nor are they disrespectful of others or themselves.