The sad thing is Steve that we all now live in a "politically correct world" where taking the rod to ones childs' bottom, whether it is a flat hand, a piece of rolled up newspaper, will have you up on charges of cruelty to a minor. Now the issue is the young people know this and use it against their parents so result is we now have people like you have to deal with ever so politely with as it is your job on the line.
I don't post much here but this site is home to me and I read all the posts daily, I do find it frustrating when some of our more knowledgeable members ask for more detail and then give excellent advice to help some one and they don't appear to want to follow up with more information that could help steer them in the right direction.