Hitting is abuse only if it's frequent and the child becomes fearful of it, but this is not nearly as sexy as hijacking the word "abuse" self-righteously.
They didn't run out into traffic because they knew that doing that was stupid and dad would swat their butt.
Consequently, my children got to meet people walking on the sidewalk. They got to explore the neighborhood and walk to school at a young age.
A reasonable trade - a bit of dicipline that opens up their world. It has served them well.