GC Parents---need advice

[trojangal]

Help!!

Need some advice. Mr. trojangal and I have a 4 year old daughter and I wanted to get some parenting advice from those of you who are more experienced at parenting.

Our little girl is a smart girl..intelligent, but also a real smart butt. Lately, she has been hitting it pretty hard with backtalk, etc. Today at school, she misbehaved pretty much most of the day, and worst of all, laughed at her teacher. I was angry and also horrified. She will "smart back" to both of us..all this really seems to have happened in the last 2-3 weeks.

She doesn't want to listen, follow directions, etc, and really has an attitude. She knows the difference between being good and bad, and when asked why she does something "Just because...".

So..tonight I started some loss of privileges...no tv, toys, etc. Just dinner, bath, and bed.

My question: What are some good ways to deal with this? We're not crazy about spanking, but have done it a few times ( this usually gets her more fired up..)