There is no parental authority in punching your kids under the ten commandments, expecting that they have to honor you. If they have to honor you, then you need to honor God above all else. It's a command and a positive command; remember?

The word "authority" has many uses and definitions.  There is the natural authority of a natural disaster such as a giant wave or tsunami. There is the natural authority of a parent, the natural authority of an artist or the authority of a self-taught blind musician.  There is the authority of praying for one's community.  However, there is also the desire for authority.  A parent does not have to abuse a child to feel authority. He can have authority by praying for his children and for talking with them. He can also have authority by providing. He or she will have authority whether or not the child remembers to say thank you and whether or not he gets a part-time job to buy Christmas presents for his family by the time he is 14 years old.

There are mindsets, however, that associate parental or family authority with the power to abuse, hinder and demean a relative; usually a younger relative. If they(parents) look closely, they will realize that this is not culture and they are the only aberration manifesting(confessing to) the lack of forgiveness for abuse suffered as children while they seek to pass this anger and lack of forgiveness on to another generation. They claim, as parents, the authority to abuse children as they read the ten commandments (honor mother and father). But the command to honor is a positive command on the children and not a licence for parents to break the other nine, presuming that the command to honor says that God gives them an unconditional honor in life in spite of what wickedness and abuse they may visit upon their children in breaking all other nine.  The commandments, if you seek any honor under them, are all positive commands and indicate that one is to seek honor from God and not the honor that is dispensed from a society or community that is caught up in disrespecting oneself in abusing one's own children and demeaning ones own progeny in addition to demeaning the word of God while claiming the right to do so under the command that says your children must honor their parents. There is a command to love the Lord your God. You cannot love God as you abuse your children who are, in fact, God's children. See Psalms 82.   God could not have intended for His commandments to be applied in this fashion; that one would abuse children based on a child's obligation under the commands to honor His parents.  They are commandments based on love, community safety, family unity and peace; that we will love our neighbors, including our children ,as our selves and love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. You cannot love the Lord and have His natural authority for doing so while you abuse your children, hoping that your community will honor you if you do. You have sufficient natural authority from loving God, sharing His message of peace and love your children as your children and also as your neighbor. Why would you want to touch his fiance, wife or his girlfriend? They will honor you without your abuse and you will feel honored by your community as your love for them, as you express it, will show. Buy that child a good graduation gift in addition to helping them buy an  office loft space so that they can sell the art and photography they are creating with that art degree.  Your community will respect you!  Self-acceptance is much more macho than any other kind of acceptance. You will still be a macho community parent but really respected and most importantly, honored within the truth of the word of God! Thank God!