My mother would regularly beat me...almost exclusively over the grades I brought home. Once, she held a gun to my head and told me to call my dad at work and say goodbye.....this for bringing home a "C" on a report card. It was at that point that I realized she was nuts, and vowed to never hit my children. I remember telling her that I would never hit my own children, and she scoffed at the idea. Like another poster on this thread, when the time was right I left home and went far, far away.
I currently have two children...11 and 7...and have never hit them in anger. Somehow, they have grown up well adjusted.