Not a parent but I think that violence would be a given in that situation. It would be far more than an “impulse”, it would a gosh darned certainty.
True story: The Ivyclan was eating at one of those all you can eat buffets. Ivyniece (probably about five or so?) was trying to serve herself from the buffet while her mom was a bit further down the line. Some man was upset about Ivyniece’s fumbling with the tongs or something and proceeded to berate her.
It was quite an impressive site, seeing an entire table of adults (grandma, grandpa, two sisters, two BILs, Ivylad and myself) stand up en masse (IvyGrandpa was a BIG guy, easily topping six feet, and IvyGrandma is a tiny little feisty woman) and head on over to the brouhaha. Poor guy never stood a chance. He was escorted out of the restaurant.
No physical assault. Just a family unifying to protect one of its own. You do not mess with the Ivyclan.
Not without having a jug of calamine lotion handy!
I would bite your nose off
After I’d assured my child’s safety, violence would be the next thing on my mind. Of course, if assuring my child’s safety entailed doing violence to the perpetrator, all the better - that’d kill two birds with one stone.
For what it’s worth, when both my kids were babies, if they cried for any reason, I wanted to violently murder whatever it was that was making them cry - it didn’t matter if it was related to hunger, tiredness or discomfort. Now that they’re older, their crying is far more annoying, but if they were in danger of any sort, that would probably resurrect that old instinct.
I dunno, I don’t like kids much. How far do I have to go to intervene?