Spanking children as a means of discipline.

[theboner]

In many countries spanking children is ilegal and consiterd abuse.
See wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanking

There is a differnce between abuse and spanking.
Spanking is a tool used by parents to give their kid somewhat of a shock when all else has failed.
Consider it like war you warn them over and over you slowly step up in levels but ultimately every now and then war is the answer to get the point across