Hi guys! Any gentle parenting advice would be greatly appreciated...

My sister has a 3.5 yr old daughter who is testing the boundaries at the moment. She is tantruming and answering back; no amount of verbal warnings & reasoning seem to be successful at the moment.

My sister's DP doesn't believe in spanking at all (he was abused as a child); however my sister believes spanking as an ultimate resort when nothing else works. Miss 3.5 is very strong willed & stubborn; if she is asked to do anything that she doesn't want to do (ie. naps or told she can't have something she wants) then parents/carer at the time gets a very firm 'no', and Miss 3.5 often goes about doing what she wants.

Does anyone have any step-by-step process they have successfully used with a child of this age? We realise this is not an unusual behavioural pattern for a child of this age; however Miss 3.5 seems to show a real lack of respect for her parents at the moment; so it is something they would like to 'nip in the bud' so to speak....

As I mentioned, ANY advice is greatly appreciated. My sister has tried the warning through to spanking 'method' to no continual success so she would prefer to try a gentle parenting method!

Can I just say, that Miss 3.5 is a delightful and intelligent little girl. Her parents (my sister & her DP) have had their relationship issues in the past; thus I think this has had it's impact on their DD.