[user104658]

All I can say is a resounding... "maybe".

And that to me, she looks pretty comfortable swinging her arm, and he looks pretty used to being slapped by his mother.

I might be making too many assumptions I suppose, that's true. But the entire premise of this thread to me smells like it'll take inevitable sidestep into "if parents still smacked their kids these things wouldn't happen" / "they should bring back hitting people with sticks in school to teach respect then there would never be in riots". And other statements of complete and utter nonsense.

I was just trying to pre-empt that, I suppose. If she was just overwhelmed and snapped, fine, but this is not the answer nor is it to be applauded. Violence of any kind against someone you love, for any reason, or as a reaction to anything, is never the answer.