I remember when I was about sixteen and was going to work at my father's business. When I got to work I went into my father's office and hung my jacket up on the coat tree and sat down across from my father. My dad got up and started searching my jacket and pulled out a small black film container. By that time I realized my younger brother narked me out as my father backhanded me across my face. Not that big of a deal I was already hardened from his physical abuse. Then my mean mother fucking father did something I never could forgive, he called the cops. When the cop arrived the cop was very cop like. The cop began to question me which was very difficult at my age so I was slow and reluctant to answer. All of a sudden my father slammed me in the face again which motivated the cop to get all up in daddy's grill. The cop told my father, "If you hit the kid again you are going to jail." Wow, I actually felt safe for a moment and felt good about that cop.
Anyway, the point of this story is that sometimes parents can do so much damage by reacting in certain ways. Your kid may never recover or be able to forgive you depending on how severe the situation became. This can happen at even young ages where the parent child relationship is forever lost, because trust is lost.
My father is dead now and I never have a good thought about him. He wasn't all bad but there was so much that was.
One good thing my father gave me from all the physical abuse from before I can remember. I have two beautiful adult sons who through their entire life never once experienced a parent hitting them, not one single time. So thanks dad for that.