I don't see anything wrong with that because I remember my mother trying to comb my tangled hair when I was 5 years old. Mom sat me on the table and I'm putting up a fuss. She finally got tired of yanking my hair out of my scalp to free the tangles. As a result, she smacked me with the comb on my jaw and yelled for me to hold still. Naturally, I'm crying harder. As a child I didn't understand but now that I'm an adult I understand. Nancy should have whacked her on the other cheek too.
"I don't see anything wrong with that because I remember my mother trying to comb my tangled hair when I was 5 years old. Mom sat me on the table and I'm putting up a fuss. She finally got tired of yanking my hair out of my scalp to free the tangles. As a result, she smacked me with the comb on my jaw and yelled for me to hold still. Naturally, I'm crying harder. As a child I didn't understand but now that I'm an adult I understand. Nancy should have whacked her on the other cheek too."I disagree. I have a five-year-old daughter who can be very wilfull. I have never hit her in anger once, and could never bring myself to do it. Plus I don't believe it would accomplish anything except to inflame an already trying situation.
My technique is to force her to look me in the eyes, while I speak in low measured tones a la Clint Eastwood. She has only ever seen me really mad at her a few times, and she never wants to see it again. She knows when I do the Clint Eastwood approach that she better smarten up or she will see it again. It always works.
Of course, I have no idea what happened with Patty on election night, but I know that if I had to face the media and political frenzy associated with having been elected President -- and my 5-year old was refusing to participate -- I'd hand her off to someone she was comfortable with to occupy her and I'd let her miss the festivities.