[Niamh.]

Originally Posted by Mrluvaluva

It's not about chastising a child because they disagree with you, it's about teaching right from wrong. I personally hate it, say for instance, you are in a supermarket, and a child is being a pain, and the parent whacks them one, hard. That is out of their own short temper, and maybe not the best way to react. It's about teaching by association, if you like. It's not up to us though to decide for other people. There is no right or wrong (unless it is extreme), only our opinions. Everyone has conflicting views, and everybody is different.

Parenthood is a learning process also...

Yes exactly, that's the thing, it's almost always done out of anger and frustration as a reaction.

I always found that the best way to handle a toddler having a tantrum was just to completely ignore it, it works far better than shouting or smacking, they're looking for attention from you and even a smack or shouting is attention.