Spankings are different than beatings. I was spanked as a child, and I spank my children. We spank for serious bad behavior only and the house rules are well known, what gets time outs, what gets groundings, and what gets spankings. The spankings are always done in private though sometimes others in the house may be aware what is taking place. The offender is spanked bare bottomed, once done it's over. We believe that by the childen knowing what will happen, they behave better. No one likes to have their bottom exposed and spanked, but they think twice about misbehaving, knowing that is just what will happen. Fortunately it works for us, we haven't had to spank any of the children more than twice, and we have little problems with them.