Funny, I would give my niece a single swat on the backside and tell her to go stand in the corner, and she'd stand there, whine and huff, and nothing more. Okay, really I'd hold a book against her backside and hit the book, but it SOUNDED like I smacked her backside. But the few times I actually raised by voice and yelled at her for doing something dangerous, rather than giving her a light swat, she bawled and acted like I was trying to murder her.