I found the following recommendations from the Family Research Council, a fundamentalist-oriented organization, worth consideration in this discussion because it does draw distinctions and differentiations:
* they differentiate between "abusive hitting and nonabusive spanking."
* they recommend that verbal corrections, time outs, and logical consequences be the disciplinary methods of choice
* spanking should be reserved for instances where non-compliance persists, and only if non-physical disciplinary methods have failed. "For very compliant children, milder forms of correction will suffice and spanking may never be necessary."
* the child should receive "at least as much encouragement and praise for good behavior as correction for problem behavior."
* "to avoid public humiliation or embarrassment," it should always be done in private
* spanking should be restricted to a range of ages. It "is inappropriate before 15 months of age and is usually not necessary until after 18 months. It should be less necessary after 6 years, and rarely, if ever, used after 10 years of age."
* if spanking does not seem to work, a parent should never increase the severity of hitting. Professional help should be sought, and/or other disciplinary techniques tried
*they recommend a single slap to the hand of a young child, and one or two spanks to the buttocks for older children
* they recommend hugging the child afterwards.
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