It seems like almost every parent on my Facebook likes to voice their opinion on a plethora of topics: breast feeding, co-sleeping, child leashes and of course, how they discipline their children. A lot of the times these opinions don't come in the form of a long-written post but are shared in memes like the following:

Followed by an "Amen!" or an "I was spanked when I was a kid and turned out just fine!" caption.

Well, I would like to voice the other side of that opinion.

I wasn't spanked as a child and I turned out just fine.

I'm not saying I never ever caught the wrath of my mother -- quite the contrary. There was a trip to Wal-Mart that my mother loves to tell the story of how I was acting particularly bratty that day and caught a nice whipping in the parking lot. However, I was not regularly spanked and can't ever recall that I was ever regularly threatened with a spanking.

I can remember my cousins having to go get their own switch and watching them being bent over their parents knees as they squalled as they got their hind ends busted. It always fascinated me because it was something that rarely, if ever, got thrown my way. My mother would ground me and take my things away or have a stern conversation with me that often led to me crying like she had whipped me. There was always the dreaded time out, as well. The worst was being put in time out right in front of whoever I was playing with and having to watch them play while I couldn't even talk to them.

According to avid believers in spankings, I would grow up to be an adult with no respect for myself or others. Sometimes I feel like kids who aren't spanked are painted to be spoiled and nothing but brats. It's something that I've been ashamed of a time or two and kept quiet on the subject.

At almost 20 years old, I have a thing or two to say about the types of people who aren't spanked grow up to be. Not everyone who isn't spanked grows up to be like me, but I didn't grow up to be the brat everyone thinks a non-spanked child would be.

Kindergarten through 12th grade, I was never suspended, expelled or placed in school suspension or detention. I never talked back to my teachers and always did what they said, the first time they said it. I followed the rules and never had to worry about bad comments on my report cards or parent/teacher meetings.

In college I have excelled in leadership positions and hold the door open for others, respect my professors and their time, and say "yes ma'am, no ma'am, yes sir, no sir," and "please" and "thank you" as well as tell the people who serve me to have a nice day. I have not gotten a speeding ticket -- I was stopped for one, but was subsequently let go, and I tend to credit my manners as the reason. I have never been to jail or even to court.

I'm not saying every kid who wasn't spanked turns out like me, because there are some kids that totally need a spanking. But I also want people to realize that every kid who isn't spanked doesn't turn out to be rude, on drugs and lack any sort of ambition. Children cannot be generalized, and what works for one may not work for another. While a spanking may work for one child, a simple conversation may work for another. It is simply unfair to paint such broad strokes when it comes to disciplining children. Just because you turned out fine because you were spanked doesn't mean I didn't turn out fine as well because I wasn't.

This always brings me to a bigger question: why do we think there is only one right way to do something? How we do things is not always this way or that way, left or right, white or black. The beautiful thing about life is that we can do a combination of things and what works for one person may not work for someone else. So please, keep the gray area in mind the next time you get in the frame of mind that your way is the best way. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't.