I don't think smacking stops you having a relationship with your children. You still have one, and often good, productive ones. But I do believe you have a different one from someone who has never smacked. My older kids were smacked by their dad and not by me. There is a very obvious difference in the way they connect with each of us.

My 3 older kids are 22, 20 and 18, so basically adults now. I have a different relationship with them now then I did when they were still living with me as teenagers too. So relationships with your kids continue to evolve, much more so once they're adults too, when they can choose to be a part of your life or not. I know they hold me accountable for the way I parented them, and as adults I am no longer an authority over them, so the memories of their childhood play a big part in how much investment they place on their on-going relationship with me (and their dad). I am glad that fear of corporal punishment doesn't feature in their memories of me, as it does for their dad.

I would also like to say again that it's not my concern or business as to how each person contributing to this thread raises their kids. But like I said earlier, as a parent of adult children now, I feel that I should share my perspective on having raised children through infancy, toddlerhood, teenagehood and now adulthood. It's an ever changing game, and while it's hard to see your kids as adults now, they will be one day, and I wish someone had explained how it would be like to me back then.