Even the best of parents struggle with how to discipline a toddler. Follow these simple strategies to keep your 2- and 3-year-olds in line. As a 2-year-old, Nathaniel Lampros of Sandy, Utah, was fascinated with toy swords and loved to duel with Kenayde, his 4-year-old sister. But inevitably, he'd whack her in the head, she'd dissolve in tears, and Angela, their mother, would come running to see what had happened.

For many parents, the idea of spanking their child is abhorrent. And yet, about a quarter of parents do it—despite a pile of evidence that it's the wrong approach. By Bonnie Schiedel November 5, His son and daughter, aged three and five, were bickering in another room. He hollered for them to come and see him—planning only to give them a talking-to—and when his son entered the room, his eyes were fearful, his hands were on his behind and he was standing as far as he could from his dad. And so, starting when his kids were around three, spankings were the occasional punishment for behaviour like reaching for the stove or tearing up a book. Over time, though, he admits that he was spanking less as a deliberate disciplinary strategy and more out of anger, and as often as several times a month.

I admit it. Last week, I asked people on the Mommy Shorts facebook page to tell me the harshest parenting ultimatum they ever followed through on. Or… the biggest threat they remember their parents following through on when they were kids.

There is a classic story about the mother who believed in spanking as a necessary part of discipline until one day she observed her three-year-old daughter hitting her one-year-old son. Children love to imitate, especially people whom they love and respect. The same discipline techniques you employ with your children are the ones they are most likely to carry on in their own parenting. The family is a training camp for teaching children how to handle conflicts. Studies show that children from spanking families are more likely to use aggression to handle conflicts when they become adults.