I actually can't think of a kid I knew growing up who didn't get "belted". I was born in 1960 into a Catholic,working class area, so we're talking a fair time ago now, but even when my kids were born 1980's onwards in was still pretty much the norm for alot of people I think. My wife on the other hand, can remember odd people being smacked but said it was really unusual. She was born in England in 1968 into an upper middle class Jewish family and was never hit herself. I've tried to see if I can find any statistics to back up our theory, but on such a topic statistics are likely to be inaccurate anyway, as often even large scale abuse like mine is ignored or unrecognised. I told 2 people, a teacher and a Priest. The teacher told me not to say anything or I'd get "taken away" for making things up and the Priest told my father what I'd said, so I think any figures found might be very open to interpretation, as child abuse in the 60's didn't appear to be viewed as the problem it is now. When you think of what would be described as an archetypal Irish childhood as represented in literature, you do tend to get a bit of an "Angela's Ashes" syndrome going on don't you as well? It's an interesting thought, and one i'm going to look into more deeply.