Is there really a right and a wrong way to raise your child?

Make them good people. That's about it. If they are good people then you raised them right. Whether that's with spanking or not, if you teach them empathy then that's all you can ask for. I didn't teach my kids table manners (I was never taught myself) but if they see another child getting bullied, they are the first ones there defending the child being bullied and I'm extremely proud of that.

I like the general principles in the book Love and Logic: Raising Responsible Children by Foster Kline and Jim Fay. 

In general, let the natural consequences of an action teach the lesson. The book goes into more detail about how to do that. 

We have three now adult daughters who are all responsible people so it seems to have worked. : )

Begin by evaluating how you were raised. Ask yourself if the methods used to teach you right from wrong were useful or not. Most adult’s mimic their own upbringing when it comes to raising their children without asking themselves legitimate questions about how they themselves turned out. 

Ever since spanking was stopped, kids have gotten worse every year.

In those days we had no drug crisis, no gun crisis, no disrespect of adults, teachers, and cops no mass shootings, and no perpetual rioting.

Compare that to TODAY and the answer is obvious.

Children were made to go to CHURCH.

Every family had a FATHER in the home that provided discipline and respect.

As always the old ways are best

Great question.  No one has cornered the market on how to raise children, thus no one can say there way is better then yours.  Oh, but in their conceit, they will try.  Just shrug it off when they do.

There is no right or wrong way to do it.  One wrong way is tellijg your kid to commit felonies...bad parenting.  My nephew is an angel...around strangers.  However i had known him since he was younger and he used to be like a tiny demon.  Reinforcement was the only thing that worked.  Reward good behaviour, punish poor behaviour

each child is different and there is no right way or wrong way to raise a child. Just make sure you love your child and only want the best for your child and talk to your child ...talk about everything and anything that will help your child to learn, grow and flourish and know they have you to depend on and turn to when problems arise in their life. Getting mad and hitting is not a good answer. Getting mad and asking why, is better.