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Disclaimer: Never had kids/way too young to have kids.
As far as the punishment discussion goes, I also notice that parents' egos (those of middle-/upper-class) play a big role in contemporary times. While I do understand that (almost) all parents are naturally protective of their children, there are now many parents w/ "oh, my so-precious child would never do that" ethos who would never admit that their children has done wrong.
Personally, I believe people's notions are changing due to the times. It seems like much of the discussion about punishment is U.S.-centric here, where corporal punishment had seen its end a long time ago, but I come from a culture where corporal punishment in school is just starting to be frowned upon. I've seen a lot of Americans complain about students' behaviour in schools, and it's certainly becoming a problem in my home country. As for the times, the conditions are perfect - exposed to the Internet from early ages, parents willing to (unreasonably) yell at teachers about punishment, etc. Like others mentioned, I really believe such punishment is needed during early developmental stages for an individual to be disciplined to a certain extent.
I'm currently in the U.S. (downtown Washington DC), and I hear about how school districts in the area have few field trips b/c of litigation (instigated by the parents) in the past. There is also a big fad here amongst the upper-class parents to have Spanish-speaking nannies, and I wonder how that affects young children, seeing how they spend little time w/ busy parents.
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