When I was younger, I would get my ear pulled, head smacked, and on one occasion spanked several times with a broomstick (because I was talking with my cousin and he told me to be quiet several times to stop talking, only because they were trying to talk and couldn't hear each other). Spanking was rare and only occurred when I was under 10 I believe. While not very physical, he was verbal as fuck. And I would get yelled at for the slightest things, even for asking a question. And you know how kids love their questions. Point is, I was terrified of him growing up.
I do recall hitting people a lot in elementary school. I wasn't a bully, no, as I'd only hit my friends. But it was never to the point where I made somebody cry, that's for sure. I did frustrate the shit out of them lol.
I have two siblings, an older and a younger sister. My older sister is currently 24 and while she wouldn't be too much of a dick to me, she did use me a lot. She had me do every little thing she wanted me to, and would constantly lie and be a dick to me. We did have our good fights as well, and once she even burned my back with the rim of a cup she had heated up by holding it over the stove. Nowadays she only speaks to me if she needs something.
My little sister hated me while I was growing up. I would always hit her and treat her like shit. Many times she told my parents she was scared of me and she hated me and whatnot. The thing is, I don't remember why I'd hit her or do the things I did. But we would fight a lot. Nowadays, though, she really likes me. When she spoke to her doctor about a month ago, my mom said that she said that I was the only person in the house she liked to speak to.
I really 'don't like' my father (can't think of a non-rude word or phrase to express my dislike). I can only recall once when he said he cared about me, but that was in my late teens. He was never happy with anything I did. i spent a vast majority of my free time with him helping him with all the projects he started and things he had to do. I rarely got to go out with friends because a) I was scared of him so I wouldn't even ask at times and b) when I would, he would say no most of the time. I remember I used to love talking all the time; nowadays I'm usually the quiet guy in the back who people exclude from whatever is going on. Honestly, most of the time I'm scared that if I say something stupid, somebody will be like your a fucking idiot.
The point of this post is to express that you have to be really careful when raising children. I personally believe that one should never purposefully hurt a child, whether it be their bum or their feelings.. My parents rarely hit me, yet I would still hit others. My dad was verbal as fuck, yet now I'm quiet and terrible in social situations (which, ironically, is the exact opposite of him. He can start up conversations with strangers and talk for hours).
If anything, spanking is just a parent being lazy. Instead of helping them understand what they did wrong and why, they try to beat the lesson into them, force them to understand. That doesn't help them mature, it just teaches them to listen to authority and not question it out of fear of getting spanked.