Honoring Your Father And Mother

In the bible it was one of the cammandments that you were to honor your father and mother and i believe that in the old days it was also punishable by death if you struck your father?
to me the whole "honor your father and mother" means that you love and respect them to the best of your abilities, you do as your told when your told, you dont disobey them, you always try to earn their praise.
-truthfully? i dont think this is much of him to ask of you. loving your parents? easy, doing as they say? easy, respecting them? easy. well all of this is for me. i dont have one problem with loving my mother and father, i dont have a problem with doing what they say and i have no problem with respecting them because i do. i think that i am oddly close to my parents for some reason. i hear all the kids at school COMPLAINING that their parents grounded them because they did something INSANELY stupid and well i can agree with the parents. some girl said she smacked her mom and i imedately jumped in because that in my eyes is so wrong.. she deserved to be sent away somewhere because that is horrible. honoring your father and mother is something that is one of the things you should be born to do, something you should be naturally able to do, because they above all else on this world love you as much as anyone else ever could.
-exceptions, possibilities, what if a child is in an abusive home? a home where they are neglected and that they are forced to find food elsewhere? a home where  they are molested? what then? i think that there are a few exceptions that are due to be made in this one and important commandment. every parent as the tools to either make their child loving or make their child a evil thing. sometimes i think it is ok to hit your parent if you are forced to, as in an abusive home, but besides that i see no loose ends to this commandment?
-punishable by death? heck no. but punishable indeed. a child who disobeys, disrespects, and htis their parents indeed does deserve a measurable punishment, and no i am not clear of any of this, i know for a fact that i have done it before but i am just saying.. its wrong.. and if god believes that it is important for a reason then i think we should all take it into account.