Thank you for bringing light to this tuff topic Sterlin. Yes the karmic cycle of child abuse is rooted in suffering. Not spanking is very possible and doesn't necessarily mean unruly kids. My daughter isn't spanked or punished and there are very interesting side effects to this. She is very self reliant and can think for herself. These aspects are sometimes not to our benefit as parents. Even though she sees things differently than I do it makes me extremely proud that she is not groomed to comply or obey. She doesn't often abuse her own power or take advantage of this freedom. She functions at a fairly high level of cooperation of her own volition for her age. If she does something of moral significants we have a long discussion about it. Sometimes she brings attention to areas where I can use some improvement as a parent. And I listen and learn from her as well. We aren't perfect parents at all! It's a learning process and there is much room for improvement for those of us conditioned to take control. It takes much effort to change the mental programming but it's worth it! If a parent has spanked their kids for many years and is ready to stop then they could have a talk with their kids and undo some of the damage. If anything it would at least stop additional damage from being done. A new relationship can form from the muck of these misunderstandings in how things are supposed to be.