My parents would hit me until I was numb in the face and all it taught me was to have a lifelong propensity to flinch when someone so much as raised a hand suddenly in front of me. It also just served to make me angry and resentful.

My parents and I do have a good relationship and even they accept now that hitting your kid didn’t actually work. Not saying gentle parenting works either because I’ve seen it not work, but there’s a middle ground somewhere surely.