Clear boundaries or violence against children?

A very good blog - covering aspects of ideas, life and politics in New Zealand and the US - recently posted about a proposed referendum in NZ, on parental smacking.

This is one of my bug bears... I was horrified at the comment that "New Zealand has shocking rates of violence against children..." Not at the blogger saying it, but at that being the case.

Do we think it's right to hit women when they don't do what we want them to, or behave in a way we don't like? So why is it ok to hit children in those situations?

I can't help feeling that people think it's ok to get physical with children because a) they are smaller than adults; and b) children are often considered almost like parents' property.

It's very hard as a non-parent for me to comment on parenting, but what I can comment on with absolute, concrete, certainty, is the fear, hatred, guilt, emotional pain and self-blame that being hit leaves children with.

23 years after I left home to get away from being hit, I wake up to those feelings every...single...day....of my life.

Not one relationship in my life is unaffected by it and not one decision gets made without that baggage having a say. That's an awful legacy to give a child.

What are your thoughts on hitting children?