Actually, I like the original better. That's the one I originally saw, and that speaks more of a realistic family to me than the "Time-out". A quick swat to the behind when we were being blatantly bad never did us any harm, and frankly, Lynne, if your readers protested, I think you should have told them they they were free to discipline their own kids any way they wanted, but to kindly keep their noses out of how you handled your fictional family.

Your strip is more than popular enough to withstand a couple of busybody readers getting in a snit over real-life-style events, and it still has that same popularity. If it was just me, I'd say leave the spank in.