Okay, I've skipped through a lot of the replies because there's too much for me to read at the moment. M BEARDIE NEEDS HELP FOR THE DEBATE..
I'm not on your side . . . but, to help you win your DEBATE, lets see what we can do.
You will have to talk about the other team who will say that smacking is there to deter children from 'choosing the wrong path' (or whatever)
Give the definition of smack.
Thesuarus - Smack = spank, slap, clout, hit, strike, punch, cuff, blow
Dictionary - to hit somebody with a quick stinging and usually noisy blow with the palm of the hand.
Is this acceptable? Are we allowed to smack, spank, hit, punch etc. ADULTS for ANY reason (even to teach them a lesson)? No - it's against the law. So why would it be acceptable to do this to a defenceless child?
There are other ways of successfully 'teaching' your child the difference form right and wrong. FOCUS ON PARENTS 'CONTROLLING THEIR CHILDREN THROUGH SMACKING (VIOLENCE) as opposed to TEACHING THEIR CHILDREN TO MAKE ACCEPTABLE CHOICES VIA DISCUSSIONS/FAMILY VALUES/ROLE MODELLING ETC.'
You can also add the 'LAZY' word into your arguement. The 'lazy' option being to smack (or better yet - say 'violently attack the defenceless child') instead of talking with the child and explaining what and why their actions were unacceptable and then offering better solutions to the situation.
If you can sum it all up into a question posed to EVERY member of the other side, perhaps you could ask them who would be happy to smack, slap, hit an adult because of a 'mistake' they made . . . or . . . better yet, bring a child along with you and briefly explain something this child has done that is considered unacceptable and then ask the other team members to come forward and 'smack' this child to teach them a lesson.
Good luck with the debate.
P.S. Just for the record - when I was young I knew I would get a smack if I continued to 'do the wrong thing' and my children know this is the same with them. I know my parents treated me fairly.