Domestic violence against children and adolescents is a public health issue, as it jeopardizes development. The purpose of this study was to identify parents 'or guardians' understanding of domestic violence. Descriptive method that sought evidence through the application of a questionnaire used by Biscegli et al. (2008). The results were analyzed by Chi-square and Fisher's exact tests, in which the parents or guardians would never agree to any punishment by the employees, 46.9% agree that the best way would be conversation and 85% that the spanking impairs the relationship. Of the respondents with more than two children, 88.2% believe that cursing the child causes harm, but for those with two or less, this rate drops to 50%. We conclude that the guardians of the children demonstrated a satisfactory level of knowledge about child violence but did not discard the cultural influence and the possibility of practicing certain types of violence.