My husband and I have never hit our children. Being hit leaves terrible scars. I have been slapped in the face in public and hit with a belt, shoe, etc. It is humiliating and had me questioning what a child could do so wrong as to have to be beaten. It adds to low self-esteem/self-loathing. Verbal beatings are also scarring! My parents I guess didn't know any better but I promised to do better by my own!