>My dad flipped out on me once, just once, when I was 18. He grabbed me by the collar and shoved me against a wall. I almost cried instantly from fear. I wasn't hurt permanently, and you can bet I never talked to my mom like that again.
>
>Interesting....while I don't agree with hitting kids, sometimes you HAVE to show some force when kids get out of line.
>
>It's funny you mention "talking back"....my mother-in-law had a kid late in life (my wife's youngest brother, he's 20 now). The father bolted years ago, so I became responsible for being the "father figure" for Jake.
>
>He's basically a good kid, but he has a horrible problem with mouthing off to his mother. I'm not talking about basic mouthing off, I'm talking serious mouthing off. Once it happened and I took him to his room and talked to him for about 30 minutes. Then it happened again, so I got in his face and put the fear of God into him. I honestly thought that would be it....but then he did it again (and all three of these were in my presence), so I grabbed him and pinned him down. He started to cry as well, but I actually stayed on him a few minutes longer. My mother in law and my wife totally freaked out and were furious at me....however, they recently thanked me, because it's been 2 years now without acting like a royal brat.

Amen. It worked for me and I have no issues (twitch twitch twitch).