Discipline and punishment are both rather touchy subjects, as everyone has their own ideas about how a naughty child should be disciplined or punished.
My views changed around 5 years ago. I have 2 boys aged 9 and 6 and five years ago I would give them a gentle slap on the behind or a tap on the hand and talk to them about how or why I am doing this.
Having been brought up in a family were the only discipline was to give us a good hard wallop, and send us to our rooms with out our tea, and then constantly throw our wrong doings into our faces. This all stuck, and as we have all (when I say we, I am referring to me and my 2 sisters) grown older and wiser we have learned to do things our own way, rather than repeat what we went through.

I mentioned 5 years ago, this is when I started to see things from a very different point of view. Myself and family were visiting my husband relatives, my oldest boy, who was 4 years old at the time, was making a lot of noise, show me a 4 year old who doesn't like to make a lot of noise. One of the relatives (which I will not name, even though I'd love to) kept telling my son to shut up, I laughed and said "he's only playing", I never thought for a moment that he really was serious about shutting him up.
To my horror, the relative jumped up, grabbed my son and gave him a really hard slap on his bare legs. My son screamed and a hand print came up immediately, I comforted my son and took him out of the room. I then lost my marbles and went ballistic at the relative, my husband came in a jumped to my defence. I was disgusted and told him that he was lucky I haven't called the police. The reply to this was "a good hard smack is the only way to teach a kid right or wrong". After arguing that a child making a noise is NOT wrong it's natural and also telling him that he makes more noise than my son and how would he like someone to smack him for making a noise, I knew he wasn'
t listening, so I told him if he ever laid a finger on my kids again I will definitely make sure he is reported for it and he would not get away with it. What struck me most was, how could someone do this to someone else's child.

Discipline, respect, punishment, abuse this all falls into the same category of teaching your children. My oldest cannot stand being near the above mentioned relative so it goes to show how much a child can absorb by going through what he did.
I will not hit, slap or anything similar, and I truly believe the greatest way to teach a child about discipline is by talking and issuing more appropriate punishments, like stopping their favourite tv programmes or football or anything else they are passionate about.
I always see it this way, a child is a human being, a unique person who will become our future, anyone who hits a child for doing things which are not naughty just annoying are quite plainly cowards. Some will class some things as naughty while I class it as learning to grow up, but again that's my opinion.
Myself and sisters remember all the times we were disciplined but can't remember what we did that was so wrong that we deserved to be treated like this.
My family and children are my life and I cannot even bare to think about anyone issuing discipline in the way of smacking.
On a closing note,I think a baby and toddler need to be shown and watched, taking a firm tone of voice will have a much better effect. I don't agree that a baby or toddler should be smacked for touching something, they don't know right from wrong and it just teaches them that if someone does something wrong they get a smack or slap for doing it.
Like I said at the top, everyone has their own ideas and ways, this is just my way.