SPARE THE ROD? MAYBE

One of the toughest parts of parenting is the seemingly endless series of decisions you have to make. Breast-feeding or formula? Cloth or disposable? Day care or the mommy track? It is not as though there is an absolute right answer to any of these questions--yet parents often feel the wrong choice could be disastrous. That is especially true when it comes to spanking. Every parent has been in a situation where a whack on the rear seems like the only recourse to little Janie's or Johnny's tantrum. But at least since the 1960s, the conventional wisdom propounded by parenting gurus...