Is spanking needed?

I have a friend that has two boys, 3,5 and 1,5. One time they came to our house and were here for around three hours. I was frustrated with their first boy that could not stay calm and had a strong curiosity. Actually, it is normal if a toddler has such behavior. But this boy made me had a bad time. He took all my books from the bookshelf and press television's button wildly, tried to go to my bedroom several times, and more. But the parents didn't do anything. They just called his name without explanation or whatever they had to do as the parents. I remember that they made me frustrated.
There is another story that I like to share. This about my friend and his family went to a restaurant for having meal. They had a 2 years little girl. While she was sitting on the chair, there was another little girl about the same age with my friend's daughter, came to her. Suddenly, without said anything, this little girl snap my friend's daughter right into her face. For sure, my friend and his wife were shock. They were hoping that the mother would tell her daughter to say sorry or at least admonished her for what she had done. But, nothing happened. She did nothing. Finally, my friend's wife went to this mother and told her about this little girl, and the mother said sorry. That's all.
I am wondering that these stories can tell us something. Do we need to discipline our children? I know that it does hard, complicated and sometimes as a mother we can be frustrated. However, discipline is needed, even it is required for you as parents to discipline your children. Through discipline we can set a boundaries for them and help them to developing their self esteem and self control. When they grow up, they can be persons who will not be depending because they already have basic for their life. Discipline is benefit for children in the future.
There are many methods offered for discipline your children. I notice that most of them say, that spanking is the list priority, even you are not allowed to use it. When I was a kid, I remember my mom would spank or pinch me if I did wrong. She would tell me before I was disciplined, that I had made a mistake (sometimes a very big mistake) therefore I knew the reason why she spanked me.
I agree with this article, "How should Christians discipline their children? What does the Bible say?" In the Proverb 23:13 says "if you punish him with the rod, he will not die." You know that many leaders were born in such discipline in the Bible. Therefore, I think spanking is needed as long as we use it as a pure discipline not as a punishment or worst, to pour out our emotion to the children.But of course this is not the only way to discipline our children. There is one method you need to know, that is Time-Out. This kind of discipline is about: how you help children to understand the consequences they will have if they've made mistakes. Or may be you have other methods you use for discipline your children and they are worked. Would you like to share it with me...