I was spanked a few times as a child, 4 that remember each time I deserved it was explained pretty well why it was happening. All 4 times it worked in straightening out my behavior in fact if someone came along when I was 20 and whipped me pretty good that might have saved me some stupid decisions lol.
I agree you shouldnt beat your kids especially young kids that dont really even understand what their in trouble for. Punishment and discipline is about correcting behavior. You want them to associate doing the “wrong” thing with something negative. All kids are different figuring out what works for a particular child can be extremely hard to do.
Unless something clearly jumps over the line I have a hard time telling people how to parent their kids, they know the kid, the situation, the details better than I do. I think a lot of the anti spanking stuff came from parents, and dads especially who came off aggressive and angry and sometimes drunk too. Thats not disciplining your children thats abuse. Thats you’re having a bad day and taking it out on your kids, in my opinion thats crappy parenting.