Spanking?

[Rev. Rye]

I'm going to leave this here:

https://www.cmaj.ca/content/184/12/1373

TL;DR: dozens of studies have been made on spanking. Not one of them found a real positive to it, but they did find that it led to increased disobedience/aggression/antisocial behavior and an increase in mental health issues (from anxiety to simply not having as much grey matter in their brains) as well as a more strained relationship with the spanker. Basically, everything said parents are trying to avoid.

And on a lighter note, here's a lighter take on the subject, which subtly explains my point, written by James Thurber (complete with his illustration, which, while charming, may not translate well with whatever text-to-speech program BrokenQuill is using). 

Q. I have three Scotch terriers which take things out of closets and down from shelves, etc. My veterinarian advised me to gather together all the wreckage, set them down in the midst of it, and say "ba-ad Scotties!" This, however, merely seems to give them a kind of pleasure. If I spank one, the other two jump me -- playfully, but they jump me.

MRS. O. S. PROCTOR

A. To begin with, I question the advisability of having three Scotch terriers. They are bound to get you down. However, it seems to me that you are needlessly complicating your own problem. The Scotties probably think that you are trying to enter into the spirit of their play. Their inability to comprehend what you are trying to get at will in the end make them melancholy, and you and the dogs will begin to drift farther and farther apart. I'd deal with each terrier, and each object, separately, beginning with the telephone, the disconnection of which must inconvenience you sorely.

Also, I've read this a couple times, and only now did I just notice that Mrs. Proctor didn't mention a disconnected telephone in her letter.