Differences

Lately, I have begun to notice that the husband and I have very different parenting styles.  When Hannah was an infant, we had the same philosophy on how to raise her.  Now that she has turned into a very feisty toddler, our approach is very different.  For instance, he will spank and flick her on the head if she has done something wrong.  I refuse to do any of that.  If she is misbehaving I try to talk to her first while she is in time out.  He will spank and  then put her in time out.  He threatens with more spanking while I will threaten to take her favorite toy away for a day.  I can tell by our parenting styles that we were raised completely different.  I was raised by parents who did threaten to spank me, but never did.  Instead of grounding me or sending me to my room, I would have to write an essay about what I did wrong or even do community service work.  My parents didn't use traditional methods to punish me.  The husband on the other hand was hit with a belt if he did something wrong.  I have told him that it makes me uncomfortable to watch him spank her, and I would like him to stop.  He said he won't because it is the only way she will learn.  This is definitely causing a problem between the two of us.  I am not sure how to fix it.  I would say we both need to compromise, but I don't know what the middle ground would be.  Have any of you dealt with this before?  I am at a loss on how to fix it.

Survival

In the short, almost 22 months, that I have been a parent I realize that at the end of the day I slap myself on the back for surviving another day.  I feel like I won the battle if Hannah goes to bed without much of a fuss.  Lately, I feel like all I do is try to survive each hour with her.  I don't know if it is the onset of the terrible twos or if she wakes up on the ornery side of the bed everyday, but I am struggling.  Discipline is a joke. She just laughs or runs away from me when she misbehaves.  I feel like a broken record.  Now she is starting to bite me.  I am sure some of it is for attention.  Most days it is just she and I, and I only have so many hands.  I still have other duties like cleaning and cooking that take time away from her.  I try to have her help me with some of the chores, but my patience wears thin and I try to get her to do something else.  I know I need more patience, and I am working on it, but it is a slow process.  I feel like a bad mom these days.  I am hoping it is a rough patch, and that by next week she and I will find our groove again.