Discipline 101

This past Thursday began the whole discipline process with Maddy. She was extremely mad and decided to take her frustrations out on me by hitting me in the face with her cup and fist. I must admit anytime (which is very rare) she hits me I find myself completely shocked. I always tell her no hitting but this time was different. I quickly made myself snap out of the shock and immediately told her no hitting mommy. As soon as I said that she instantly looked at me like I don't even know why I did that and burst into tears. Before I go on with this adventure, I want to share that not too long ago I was telling my mom that Maddy knows when she does things she isn't supposed to and the look on her face says it all...I have no idea why I just did that and then she gets upset because she knows it was wrong and knows she has disappointed someone but at the same time she has no idea what came over her in the first place to cause her to hit me. I can relate to her feelings and the best thing for that is a hug to show it's ok but at the same time let them know with words it's not ok to hit. I decided to try the hugging thing with her when she burst into tears, but she instantly turned her tears into a full fledge fit. I have decided to not give her any attention in the middle of her fits, I simply walk away and will not talk to her regardless and once she has calmed down enough to hear me I let her know I don't pay attention to fits, to stop crying, and get up. If she goes back to her fit then I leave the room. This makes her more upset but eventually she will get up, come find me, and then the fit is over. It's hard to enforce any kind of technique when everyone isn't on the same page in the household, but I have to start doing something or I will be in trouble years down the road. Back to my story...after she pitched her fit she decided to come to me. I explained on her level that she shouldn't hit mommy because it hurts and she needed to say sorry. She hates saying anything positive when she is mad and she chose to say sorry by putting her head on my head. I told her she needed to use her words and say sorry. Again she did the head thing. I told her again and this time she was starting to go into a fit. She was holding some chocolate, so I took the chocolate out of her hand and told her she needed to tell me sorry and then she could go back to playing and eating her chocolate. It took a few trys but she eventually belted out, "sorrry" and then gave me a hug. For now my parenting technique is going to be to pull her aside and have a talk with her and help her correct the poor choice she made somehow. I think for now this will work because she does aim to please. I really don't believe in spanking...I don't think it is "wrong" or anything like that, just not for me. There may come a situation that I decide to spank for but at this point I just don't see that happening. Maddy is a lot like me in the fact that just knowing she disappointed someone or did something wrong is enough punishment and spanking wouldn't really have any affect on correcting the situation.
I honestly feel like the Lord guided me Thursday night in how to handle her hitting me because the few times it has happened in the past it has just completely shocked me to the point that I don't know what to do other than to say no hitting mommy. I felt like we accomplished something Thursday night and I think it is a step in the right direction. I know as she grows up the discipline scene will get tougher but I am going to start praying now that the Lord will guide me and give me the knowledge and wisdom I need to help her grow.