To or not to , that is the question?

Are s a good form of discipline? Personally I believe that when done correctly s are a good (and memorable) punishment. I was ed regularly because I deserved it and I am neither aggressive, a failure or in prison. This parenting philosophy that swept the nation about 20 years ago is, in my opinion, asinine: reason with your kids, compromise with them, give them time outs and take away privileges but NEVER give them any real consequences! What a bunch of silliness! We have now seemingly raised up a new very disrespectful, narcissistic and thankless generation. It seems like after talking to the parents of the few kids that are respectful I usually find that they too ed their kids . I ed mine when needed and none of them (I have 3) have ever so much as been to the principals office. They are respectful to authority figures, happy, sociable and all get good grades. I care about their feelings of course but when they did something wrong I worried about the "why" second and punished first. After we talked about why and ways to avoid getting into trouble again. There HAS to be consequences for their actions. I still love the oldie but goody "because I'm the mom and I said so, that's why"! I'm not talking about beating them, just and there is a difference. Thoughts?