Stardate 20010824.2242 (On Screen): It is certain that historically some parents have used much too much physical punishment on their children, and that this has harmed those kids, psychologically or even physically in some cases. As a result, there are a number of people now who believe that you should never use physical punishment at all on children. I think that is taking it too far.
In a high tech culture, there are certain lessons a child has to learn early and learn perfectly, for if he doesn't he has a high chance of dying: you do not stick a fork into the electrical socket. You do not play in the middle of the street. You do not open a bottle from the medicine cabinet and swallow all the pills inside. And these lessons have to be learned at a very early age, starting about 18 months or so. By the time a kid is walking and capable of picking up things, they're going to explore. The problem is that you can't reason with an 18 month old. A kid that age doesn't understand "electricity" or "poison" or even "death". You can't tell a kid, "Electricity can kill." Their brains are not yet sufficiently sophisticated for that level of reasoning to work. But a kid that age does understand a swat on the rear end; and "if you touch the electrical socket you'll get a spanking" is an easy lesson to learn.
Later, perhaps; at age five or so (now that you've made sure she lives that long), you can begin to use coercion and reasoning and non-corporal punshments to discipline an ill-behaved child. (discussion in progress)
