Wow, this is an old one, but what the hey. So I'll probably piss everyone off but I'm going with abuse, well maybe not abuse but unwarrented. I have never struck a child and never will, my opinion is that there is never a reason to hit a defenseless child. You may have to snatch them up, even hold them until they calm down, but we don't give our children enough credit when we say you can't reason with a small child, I do it everyday, or did when I was teaching, and find it works more often than not.
Do I condemn parents who spank, no I don't; as long as restraint is used, and I don't mean tie the child up, then its an effective discipline technique; its just that I think there is a better way.
It also should be noted that all but our oldest was adopted and were children of abuse, some of it pretty horrific, so spanking, patting, or even a little slap is something we just don't do as a hard and fast rule.
Oh and just so you know, none of our girls thinks Magus is perfect, they just tell him that when they want something he's so easy LOL