My sister is a teacher and her observation is always the same despite the age groups - Parents give in too much to their kids.
Even when their kids do something wrong like disrespecting elders or being rude, most parents simply either ignore or they just say "hey, you cannot say that"
But no explanation on why it's wrong or even any punishment to show that actions have consequences. And because kids go scotfree, they just do it again and the cycle repeats.
So caning is a form of punishment, but it shouldn't go to the point of hurting them. It's just to show that negative action have negative reaction. It's a lesson to remind them not to do it again. Remember to explain why you had to cane them in the first place.