Just a personal choice on my part
My dad, on ocassion, "tanned my hide" when I was a kid. When I look back on it though, I think he used restraint in deciding when it was appropriate. He'll always be, in my eyes, a good man and a great father.
Once while he was paddling my behind I managed to look up at him and was shocked by the anguish on his face. At that moment, even as a kid, I realized that between the two of us, it really was was more difficult for him than it was for me. It was a formative moment. I felt terrible for having behaved in a way that had literally forced his hand.
The physical punishment was nothing compared to the quite incidental emotional understanding I gained.