Spitting! Help!

Welcome to the world of "things I was sure only other people's children did."

I don't have any great and wonderous advice, just to be consistant and stop with the scatter-shot method of thowing every consequence in the book at her every time. She's getting quite a rise out of you by doing it, so I'd cut out the emotion and remove her from the situation every single time with as little fanfare as possible. She's old enough to understand that she doesn't get to do fun things with others if she can't control herself and behave appropriately.

Hope it's a mercifully short-lived phase, and that you'll wind up with an extra dose of empathy for other parents!

When my sons did the spitting phase, it lasted about a day because they got popped in the mouth due to the fact that it's a horribly nasty thing to do. Nuff said.

My son went through a spitting phase. Not that it will work for everyone, but here's what worked for us:

1. Immediately removed him from the situation. We did not look at him or talk to him, apart from saying, "Naughty chair. Now." He would have to sit in the naughty chair. It is placed so he can see the fun we are having but cannot take part.
2. After a few minutes, which felt like abject torture to him, we went to him to talk. He remained in the naughty chair while we talked. The conversation went something like, "Do you know why you're in the naughty chair?" "Because I spit." "Yes. Do we spit?" "No, we don't spit." "Why not?" "Because spitting is yucky. But we only spit in the bathroom. When we brush our teeth."
3. He had to come out of the naughty chair and apologize to every person in the room.

After a few days, he was done. It was a long few days, but it worked.

PS It started at school, too. I have no idea why. But it came home. We stopped it at home, and it stopped at school, too.