I think people these days would be horrified to know how my generation was disciplined (I'm 45) I didn't swear, but soaping children's mouths out was very common if they swore.
Catholic schools still gave the strap as punishment, (on the hand). teachers walked around the class with a ruler in their hand for intimidation.
At home it was normal to get backhanded ASAP, instantly if you were in arms reach. LoL
The "belt" or strap was for boys, well all of this was for boys, girls weren't bad enough to get physical punishment.
The worst was when Dad would send me to my room for awhile to choose between X amount of straps on my bare ass or X days grounded in the house.
Decisions, decisions..,I always took the strap. I turned out OK
This was normal (for rowdy boys) We were almost all rowdy back then, now kids are more civilized (until it's too late)
IMO Our generation learned from small mistakes, these days 12 yr olds are doing B&Es and stealing cars before they learn.