Child Rearing

I was thinking about child rearing practices. I was out with some friends today, and one of the girls was talking about 'redirecting' children at her daycare job. Punishment is forbidden. Now I don't know about you, but when I was a kid I got punished when I misbehaved. It didn't matter if I was at home, camp, or in the care of relative. There were always consequences for my actions. My dad gave me a spanking. My aunt sent me to the corner. My counselors at camp took away canteen privileges. Not to say that I was a horrible little child who got in trouble everywhere she went. But kids will be kids, and unless there is a punishment system they will not learn how to behave like a respectable member of society. When I child is told 'no, you can't do that' they don't really understand what it means. They don't know why it's wrong, and they don't understand what it means when something is wrong... until they are taught. When my little sister was three or four I was watching her while our parents went to get something to eat. She decided that she wanted to throw toys around in a reckless manner, when I told her not to do that she got mad, she screamed, she kicked, and she didn't stop. I wasn't going to let her act this way. I picked her up and sat her down on a chair and told her she must stay there until she was ready to act nice. She kept screaming. So I asked her why she was sad. She answered saying that I wouldn't let her play with her toys. I told her that she wasn't playing nice and it made me sad so I had to make her sit in the chair. When she heard that her behavior made me sad she was really sorry and sat in the chair till she was calm. It was only a couple of minutes and then she was ready to play nice. And we were both happy and in good moods by the time the parents got home with the food. Children understand feelings, they have them too. So telling them 'no' without any reason doesn't work.
If a child doesn't understand why he or she isn't allowed to do something, they will probably do it anyway. If a child is used to getting everything they want ... then they are spoiled. Spoiled people are not considerate of others. Spoiled people have a hard time sharing. Spoiled people are selfish. Spoiled selfish people play games with their relationships. Spoiled people just aren't fun to hang out with.
So "redirecting" "punishment"?
I think both are good things. When a child is 'redirected' I guess that would be telling them why they should or shouldn't be doing something. But then if they resist that, then they might need a firmer hand, punishment.