"When police found a kindergarten boy who had walked off from school after attacking his teacher and classmates it didn't take them long to start guessing about the cause of his behavior." Long story short: The cops concluded the boy wasn't getting enough of That Good Old Corporal Punishment at home, and told his mother exactly that. "He's bad because no one's correcting it." "This is why people need to beat their kids." "As law enforcement officers… we applaud the fact that you will please beat your kid." There are no happy endings to such incidents, but this case did result in a hefty settlement after a judge ruled that the police behavior involved was "assaultive in nature." For much of my own life, I assumed that "spare the rod, spoil the child" was not only how things were, but the only way they could be. My wife and I debated that belief in a spirited manner and she largely prevailed in banning corporal punishment for our kids. I learned