Dear Ann Landers,
read your column regularly, and although I don't always agree with your advice, I think you have a lot of common sense when it comes to raising children. I have a perplexing problem with my 18-month-old son. He is a very active child, large and strong for his age. Just recently, he began play-fully hitting me. I would tell him, no, and that would be the end of it. In the past two weeks, however, his playful hitting is beginning to get to me. He climbs up in my lap says, "Hi, Mommy," then whacks me right in the face. I believe in spanking as a last resort, and I have spanked him a cou-ple of times for doing this, but it hasn't solved the problem. In fact, he has been hitting me even more. The strange thing is that he never hits anyone but me. This whole thing has put a terrific strain on my patience. Can you offer a solution? -Worried

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