Should it be criminal to smack children?

[GypsyElder]

There are better ways to deal with naughty children. For example, if you lower yourself down to their level and talk with them, you can usually reason with them quite well. I would also use the suggestion of "naughty chair". These techniques usually prove well.
I also think that if you ignore the children when s/he is bad, then they learn not to be naughty because they won't be getting any attention out of it.
I think if the child has done something terrible, a single firm smack on the back or bottom is sufficient, but only then.

Don't forget it also depends on your definition of "children" depending on the age of some kids, a reasonable lecture won't do much justice. For the eight year old mentioned earlier, that’s just way too much, and unacceptable. No matter what the kid did, I don't think he deserved all that. The father obviously needed to get some penalty. Sometimes a good smack or two every now and then will do the trick. In bad cases it may be the Only solution. When kids get to the point where they think they know everything and refuse to listen.