Of course, people often assume that "tough" means someone who will readily beat the shit out of someone else.
We live in a world full of "tough" people who behave in exactly that way.
And I don't know if you've been paying attention, but the human world is kind of a shit place to live in.
"...people aren't tough anymore because no one hits their kids with the belt or flyswatter and if you did that today it would be considered child abuse..."
First of all, yes that's child abuse. Full stop.
Second of all, you're teaching kids that the way to respond to conflict is through violence, which indicates that you are someone who walks through the world abusing adults too.
You're just an abusive asshole and you want kids grow up to be the same as you.