It is possible that sometime in your life someone has told you that hitting children is a good option to educate them in a positive way, to make them listen to you, to respect you ... When you get together with other adults who are parents and there is trust, they may advise you that the best thing you can do to “control” your children is to punish them, threaten them and even hit them (even if it is a "little thing").
If you are one of those people who defend positive discipline without violence and with respect, you may feel uncomfortable about these comments, so it is necessary that you learn to respond to these types of comments with assertiveness and without conflict.
The first thing you should tell them is that violence generates more violence and if they hit them, the children will see nothing wrong in hitting their parents. If parents humiliate them in this way, or disrespect their body and their dignity by hitting, without a doubt the bond that unites them will deteriorate. Children when they receive this type of physical "punishment", will end up lying to their parents when things happen because they will be afraid of being beaten, they will be afraid of their parents. And no, fear is not the same as respect.
These children will also begin to hit other children because it is what they have learned at home. Whenever they get angry or frustrated, just as their parents do with them, they will with others. It is easy to understand, a child does not scream if he does not receive screams, a child learns humility when they are educated with humility, a child learns to be respectful when they are respected first ... So if they say things like that again, answer something assertive like: “Thank you very much for your advice. The education that I instill in my children is based on respect so that they respect me ”.