My time in school didn't involve beatings of any sort. It was already phased out in America by this point.

I received a special kind of close fist hitting pressure points kind of beatings, with a nice sauce of mental torture added to the mix.

The way I see it, aside from a bit of PTSD as residual, it molded my character in a way I see as good. As the psycho who beat me was also my father, and did actually have some pretty sound morals.

I choose to not lay hands on my children. I am kind to them, and when they are misbehaving, the bass in my voice is usually enough to assist them in correcting their behavior, when it isn't I just start taking toys away, and this is always productive for correcting behavior. They key is, not to take the toy away for a day or two, but rather, a month or two, so they can really have time to think about consequence.

I do adhere somewhat to the saying "spare the rod, spoil the child", but this isn't so literal in the way I view it. There are different ways of disciplining that are just as effective, without leaving mental scars. There are cases I would lay a whooping down on one of my kids, but that would entail something like stealing and vandalism. Those are things I am strongly against, and God forbid they behave this way, I'm sure it will be the last time they do.

I just try to raise my kids with love and compassion.

"walk softly and carry a big stick" -Theodore Roosevelt