Is using a little spanking while raising a child ...

Generally, spanking is out of favour nowadays. Still, most of humanity used it until very recently, and not many children were severely damaged by it. Some were, however, and some still are, as we can read in the newspapers from time to time.

"A little spanking," as your question put it, is not very precise. Some people would take that to mean spanking only when used to avert something terrible, like a child preparing to set the house on fire. Others would think that any beating that does not result in injuries requiring medical attention is perfectly all right. Need I say that the second group are wrong?

As far as the use of physical violence is concerned--and let's face the fact that a spanking is violent by its very nature--parents are best advised to avoid it. You aren't allowed to spank your spouse or your employees, so why should you be free to assault your child? 

Each child responds in different ways to different forms of discipline.  Some children require spanking; and when I say spanking, I don't mean hurting them, as it should never be so hard as to cause harm.  However, when you spank and then later tell them not to hit when they hit, it is very confusing to a child.  I have found that with my children, just the threat of spanking is enough to keep them from misbehaving.  This is not my only form of discipline, I also take away things that are important to them such as games or tv time.  Some children respond to this technique, some to timeouts, some to re-directing; it really depends on the individual child and each parent needs to figure what works for their child.