good point.
I think every child is different, The technique i like the best is that you try to be their friend & a parent at the same time, talk to them & all. If they are like 2 & younger then you can try time outs & all but once they get 4 years old & dont listen or start acting up for a long time a little spanken in the butt would hurt them a minute or two but it will teach them to behave or they will get the spanken again... But once they start getting older it can also make them want to fight back... so theres pros & cons towards hitting them in the butt.
I guess every child is different some need spankens others need time outs others need to go sit in a room alone without electronics let them be bored in that room for 30 min or so others need to be grounded & so on.
When it comes to teenagers, the best way is to make sure you taught them about God when growing up that way they know about God & then once they get into their teenager years you can be more of their friends so instead of them going to their friends with their problems they go to you.
For example talk to them about boyfriends so they can be close to you.
I talk to my mom about my boyfriends, & my mom has told me its bad to have sex before marriage. If you can talk to your teenage child about sex & boyfriend/girlfriends then theres simply no need of spanking, but only of words, when they come to you with things like "mom someone offered me some drugs at school" dont snap on them & say you are grounded unless you tell me who that is im, going to the police or to the school principal.
That will imediatly make them regret telling you & might not open up to you any time soon or for years.
Instead talk to them like remember what i told you about drugs, & did you try any? Let them know that can lead to addiction & so on.
& ask them if they would like for you to report them privately to the principal or police man.
just a example.