Should parents ever hit their children? Research suggests many of us are likely to respond "no", and public support for spanking  has been falling over the years.But surveys also show that 75 percent to nearly 90 percent of parents admit to spanking their child at least once. I was raised in a zero-tolerance home for disrespect, and my parents often turned to physical punishment.And, no, I don' t feel I was damaged by it. Nothing is more annoying than watching ill-mannered behavior from children. But there is data to suggest that a return to old-school spanking isn't the answer. Two years ago, Newsweek reported that it had found data suggesting that teens whose parents used physical punishment were more likely to become aggressive. Murray Straus, professor at the University of New Hampshire in America, has studied the topic of children and spanking for decades.He said that children who were physically punished have lower IQs than their peers.It may be that children with lower IQs were more likely to get spanked, but the punishment may have been counterproductive   to their mental development, as well. Some researchers make the argument that occasional open-handed smacks   on the bottom are not only harmless but can have some benefit. Last year, Marjorie Gunnoe, a psychologist at Calvin College, studied teens who have never spanked.There are a greater number of children growing up without ever having been physically punished.Gunnoe's research suggests they don' t turn out any better than those who were sometimes spanked. There are some parents who simply cannot control their tempers  .But I still believe that the best parents are the ones who are able to offer fair and firm discipline without ever turning to physical punishment. According to Murray Straus, children who are physically punished   _  .
are less aggressive toward others when they get older have slower physical development benefit from occasional spanking may develop lower IQs than their peer