I was mostly a good kid but all kids get the devil up them occasionally, and when I was playing up I would occasionally get spanked, but it also backfired when I would try to wriggle away or just say they weren't hitting me hard enough, leaving them with the issue of "do I genuinely hurt my child" or "i have to change tact"

later, I grew up and worked in education with some difficult kids- and of course, you can't hit them, often you can't even restrain them. Instead you learn the skills to deal with difficult behavior. And you learn - like with so many things - there are no easy solutions and anyone that tells you otherwise is lying.