I have quite a temper and have been soooo tempted to hit my eldest child, who is very stubborn and as a toddler used to get up to all sorts of trouble. I'm glad I never did though. Now she is well behaved and we have a good relationship. I'm sure that would not be the case if I had hit her. But it was hard. It helped to get good advice - and in some cases thinking "she won't be doing this anymore by the time she's 18 anyway, so let's not worry."