Have parents always used physical punishment on their children?

Question

Is spanking and other forms of physical punishment something that has always existed in cultures of the past, as far as anthropologists know?

Answer 1

Been used by parents for ever, that is untill the liberal generation came along and said it's wrong!

Answer 2

Physical punishment has been known to be used back in classical times in Rome, Egypt, and Greece for both judicial and educational discipline. The longest time ago recorded in history for physical punishment was 55 B.C. in Rome when children disobeyed in school.

Answer 3

I'm sure it has.  It wasn't until recently that people even thought it was a problem to hit kids or anyone else, for that matter.  Now, I know some cultures don't approve of violence of any kind, but that's never prevented it from happening.  I'm not condoning spanking at all, but compared to what used to be acceptable, it's nothing.

Answer 4

No, back in prehistoric times, parents would just let the sabre-toothed tigers eat them, if they wandered too far from the cave...