Beware of Toddler

[Kitsune]

James, no biting ever! 5 minutes on your bottom.

Curious -- why not "5 times [spanking] on your bottom"? I've noticed a really disturbing trend, lately, in which children get away with pretty much anything they want to in public and are simply, repeatedly told, "Sweetie, don't do that. Honey, that's not nice. Pumpkin, please don't do that, it hurts people's feelings," all while the behavior continues.

The physical intervention never happens, so the child continues the misbehavior. I have no children, so I can't offer any words of advice one way or another and maybe I'm only seeing the incidents in public where it is so annoying that I wish someone would finally take a hand to the brat. But I'm curious: does the absence of physical punishment make the child's behavior better or worse? Do children really learn to correct their behavior simply by being told? I've seen cases where the parents continue to use "baby speak" or "sweet talk" when attempting to discipline their children and I cannot ever see that working as a corrective action because the child will never see the parent as an adult or authority figure.