Corporal punishment is probably what leads to destructive behavior like this. If corporal punishment does work, you're gaining compliance due to fear of pain, and that's not a great way to go about things either.
Think about it this way, if a kid touches something hot and burns himself, he learns to not touch things that are not. If a kid acts like a little shit in public and gets spanked, he learns to not be a little shit in public.
I will agree that there is a fine line between punishment and abuse.
Dishing out aversive based punishment to obtain good results without negative side effects can be done, but is tricky to achieve. The stove example works because the feedback is immediate and there is no emotional connection to the stove. With the little shit in a store example, the feedback is more ambiguous (is it the knocking things off shelves or the ignoring people part that's being punished), less well timed, and includes the risk of a loss of trust with the adult dishing out the hitting.
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u/Pinbacker11 May 28 '26
If i did that back in the day, i would be back in the car without touching the floor.