You know I someone who was genuinely abused as a kid and got thrown in CPS because of it,
Yes. Not only is hitting your kid abuse but it doesn't really teach your child anything. It teaches a child that if they hit others when they don't get their way, they can strike fear in their peers and manipulate others into giving them what they want. Spanking, swatting hands, smacking, any form of corporal punishment just doesn't work 99 percent of the time. I was hit as a kid and I can personally tell you that it caused major issues at school, cuz I would hit my peers and teachers thinking it's fine "because Mommy and Daddy hit me and my brother". There's a thousand other ways to discipline children, and if you have to resort to getting physical than you haven't tried hard enough as a parent imo.
