CLITHEROE Methodist minister Chris Cheeseman, chairman of the Ribble Valley Homestart group, which helps families with children under five in crisis, doesn't believe that smacking achieves anything.

And he believes that parenting training for young people should be introduced.

He said: "There is a lack of training for young people in parenting and the national curriculum isn't flexible enough to allow for home care education.

"Some people are ill-equipped to deal with the demands of parenting and we need to do more for them. Swiping at children achieves nothing and is open to abuse."

Sue Woolmore is public policy adviser for the North of England for children's charity, the NSPCC.

She said: "Despite my professional training, I had always thought that I would smack my children if they needed punishing. Like the vast majority of loving parents, my mum and dad smacked us when we misbehaved. I remember feeling it was unfair and on occasions completely unjustified.

"But when my toddler daughter hit out, I explained to her that hitting was wrong.

"It was then obvious that I could never hit her without confusing her with a very mixed message. From this experience I started questioning what so many of us accept without question - that smacking is a good way to discipline children. I am now convinced of three things.

"Smacking is not good for children. It's not good for parents. And it doesn't work.

"Parents or carers can claim how they punish their children is their business and as long as the law allows reasonable chastisement there is very little we can do, however much we fear for the safety of the child.

"No one blames loving parents for smacking. They are only doing what we have all been taught is best for children, but we are appealing to all parents to rethink smacking for the sake of the small number of children whose parents or carers beat and thrash them within an inch of their life.

"If loving, caring parents help us to create a society where hitting children is no longer acceptable, that will help us to protect those children whose parents too often go too far."