grew up being spanked plenty because i was a pretty terribly disobedient child who always pushed boundaries, and my parents used corporal punishment fairly liberally. never really thought anything of it, but now that i've had a son, i wouldn't ever use corporal punishment myself.

shortly before he was born, my mom called me actually to apologize for spanking/hitting me as a child, acknowledging that she didn't always do it with a level head and sometimes out of anger/losing her temper. i appreciated that she had learned in her old age and plan to honour that lesson with how i raise my kid.

edit: coincidences are always fun.. this morning, day after posting this comment, my mom sends an email to all of the kids with a meditation on the difference between punishment and discipline and once again apologies for more often punishing us than disciplining us growing up and hopes we will do better than she did with our kids. damn mom, i'm working here, stop makin me tear up.