Questions: Society & Politics

I know for a lot of 18 year olds it's normal to be completely broke and unemployed at 18. I barely have anything and it's extremely depressing. I thought at 18 you'd at least have something like a job or doing something but I'm just completely broke and dependent on my parents. The only income I'm making is though mystery shopping and god it's just sucks not having any money...

We have both types in the world today. Which one do you think is better and why?

My boyfriend and I (both latinos) come from a background where we were hit too hard with a household object and both of us think that was too much.

My father would use a belt on me during my very early ages. Practically all the times it was used, he did it in frustration/anger and tend to overdo it to the point I was already crying and pleading for it to stop. He did the same to my younger brother. Long ago when my brother was only 2 years old and nearly dropped a teapot with boiling water, he left a couple bruises on his bottom and the back of one side of his leg was swollen with the belt and he only stopped when he accidently hit one side of his face with it (it happened when my brother was turning around to run).

In my bf's case, it was his mother that used to hit him with a stick or strap. It was pretty much done out of frustration/anger too.

This resulted in my complete hatred towards the usage of corporal punishment on a child, esp if it were my own kid; the person I'm suppose to love, protect, cherish, guide and teacher. My boyfriend only thinks spanking should be done with only the hands but never hard nor ever done in anger. Though his approach is a mild version in comparing to our backgrounds, I still have an issue spanking kids, even with the hands. I also don't agree with his stance that if you don't spank your child they'll grow up criminals.
Now back to my question, shouldn't spanking/hitting a child with a belt, sandals, sticks or any object be classified immediately as assault and child abuse? I definitely think so.