Maybe it's my faulty memory but it seems to me when I was growing up in the 1970's that kids behaved better in the check out line at the store. I know for certain that I would have had one of those screaming "I want this" and "I want that" temper tantrums like I see so many kids have today while I'm waiting to pay for my groceries, there would have been a dire price to pay. My Mother just would not have put up with that.
Then I remember the stories of my Grandmother who always talked about how kids were taught to show respect for their elders. It was considered an important lesson of childhood that continued on into adulthood. Nowadays, I don't think we show the same amount of respect for our elderly people who have so much to offer us in terms of wisdom.
I'm certainly not in favor of physically abusing a child but I do wish that parents would take a more constructive role in the stores regarding their children's behavior. When I see kids basically terrorizing the adults by running wildly through the stores and ramming into people, some of who are elderly and almost fall down, I long for the "good ol' days" when kids were taught some manners.
I don't understand why the parents of the children having the tantrums just stand there and ignore their child or actually give them what they want. It just reinforces this bad behavior, and in my opinion, sets them up to have problems later in life.