I totally agree that it depends on the kid and even then it's really only useful at an age before they can reason verbally.
For example, my son was very obediant. I could give him "the look" and he'd square his act away. When he got older I could talk to him and reinforce w/a constructive punishment and that worked.
My daughter, was a different child. She was very headstrong and would throw terrible fits. I could get her to calm down to reason with her. If I ignored her until she calmed down, then she'd go on and on forever and in some situations, I didn't have time. She'd get a couple real quick pops on the bootie and she'd stop. Then, I could talk to her. It was just to get her attention and as her vocabulary developed I was more successful with talking and other methods.
Both of my children respect me and others and are pretty good most of the time. lol
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