I am not being pedantic, you said spanking was not hitting because you have a negative connotation with the word hitting but not with spanking. Essentially rather than arguing the truth of the situation you want to argue so it *sounds* like the situation that you *feel* that it is. What you should be doing is explain exactly the situations and logic in which hitting children is justified if you think those situations exist. What you seem to have been doing above is attempting to justify it not by actually standing by your actions, but by excusing them when there are “too any kids” and then saying it’s a “special form of hitting that isn’t really hitting.” Both of which actually concede the argument and try to create special case exceptions, rather than being direct about what is happening and being ok with it. If you are fine with what is happening, why does having one kid make it different, and why are you trying to literally use word choice to defend it rather than a strong argument.

In other words, if it’s truly justified and makes sense, you don’t have to sugar coat the wording. Just defend why it’s acceptable and necessary to hit children in certain situations to ensure they aren’t little assholes if that is your stance.