As is typical of modern times, the conversation my friends and I had was recorded on another friend's smartphone. Something had happened, or rather had not happened, and it was poignant. It wasn't until the next day and they'd all had a chance to see the video that they believed me: Not once did they utter the word "love" as they recalled their childhoods and toasted their parents.
It was further asserted during the evening that there is "a line between discipline and abuse" – whether the "discipline" is physical or verbal. I would point out that the human nervous system knows no such line nor has any such line been proven to exist, so I'm going to go ahead and side with neurology on this one and wave the bullshit-you-just-made-that-up flag.
There is only one reason to raise your hand to a child: not knowing another way. That's not just a bad reason; it's a fixable reason. If you don't know another way, you learn another way. That's what adults do. Adults don't wallow in ignorance and excuse it with "tradition" or some such nonsense. The idea that fear is synonymous with respect is not an adult thing to think and acting on it is not an adult thing to do. Getting children to behave by hitting them is not a disciplinary technique. It's an excuse – and if that doesn't reek of "I'm entitled!" I don't know what does.
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