Bad Kid

Do you ever wonder how you would have reacted if you were your parents when you misbehaved?  I have and I don't know that I would have done any better.  Take this situation for instance--
I was little, maybe three or four, I can't remember what I did, but obviously it was enough to warrant a bit of corporal punishment.  I remember running from my dad around the car and squatting down to stick my rear end in the hubcap of his old Thunderbird.  Ha!  Did I really think he couldn't peel me out of there? (He did.)
I can imagine how silly I would feel chasing a kid around a car so I could discipline them.  I would probably lose my cool and scream.  I can't see my dad just standing there and calmly saying, "Rachel, come here," and me complying.  I probably would have ran off into the woods, laughing.  Then, would he have yelled for me to come back or chased after me?
He probably did the right/easiet route, but really--what do you do when your kid does something embarrassing?