Spanking should NOT be illegal, I I have tried everything with my kids, time out, talking to them, spanking, and just plain trying to kid proof my house to a completely unattainable degree... I wanted to do with out spanking because as a child my dad always went a little overboard with it on me... not my younger sisters... Sometimes I thought it was my fault for not being biologically his, as I got older, he said it was because he "expected more from u than ur sisters" I will say if you do choose to spank your children do not discriminate against certain ones. I only spank my kids when its something pretty bad, otherwise its a time out for the little one, and my all time favorite is the writing sentences.. My 8 yr old HATES HATES HATES IT... If she sasses me, or yells at me.. *which oh yes, she tests my patience* I make her sit down and write 20 or 30 times " I will not yell at my mom." or for instance, "I will not slam my door" stuff like that.. Time out or "grounding" doesn't work with her, but my 2 yr old it still works on. There are many different ways to discipline children, but as long as spankings aren't given for EVERY LITTLE THING, and aren't given in a abusive manner.. **in my opinion slapping a child in the mouth is a bit much, have a friend that does that, I leave her house everytime I see it, DRIVES ME NUTS, told her I didn't think she should do it, almost ended a friend ship because she told me, I can raise my kids my way and hers her own** ... But as said in another post, every child is different, and there are definitely a ton of teens that should have had their behinds spanked as children and they probably wouldn't be so outta control and disrespectful now.