Sasha, a 3-year-old girl, was having difficulty settling down at bedtime. she ran around her house, trying to make her parents catch her before getting into bed. sasha's behavior awakened her baby sister, asleep in the next room. john, sasha's father, felt pushed to his limit and he screamed at sasha to stop and threatened her with a spanking. which type of discipline did sasha's father use?

Rule one, don't chase them that makes them run and you're playing along with their game

Rule two, Never yell at them in anger.  And do not administer punishment without them knowing what they did, and what you expected of them.

He used aggressive discipline.  While I support spankings, they should not be used as the only way of punishing, and not the first thing to do. There should be other solutions available to handle the situation.

TIP: An hour before bed time, get them prepared to go to bed. Give them a warm bath preferably an oatmeal bath or a few drops of lavender for calming  , drink warm milk ( or warm almost hot water if they're lactose intolerant.),  watch a sleepy show, tickle/stroke their back ( not so much to get the giggles just a calm consistent stroke.), play soft music as a whitenoise for the background, dim the lights and keep the room at a warm temperature.  Keep the mood soft and sleepy like.

A few minutes before bed time, read to them. Read a nice story that isn't bright and colorful and has an exciting theme, instead something that's soft toned to read. Make sure that an hour before all of this their room is cleaned up and that the bed is made ( Maybe toss their blanket/comforter in the dryer so that they come to a nice warm bed.)

All of this will prepare them for bed time. If for some reason they're STILL up and running around ( Jeez I wanna have some of what that kid got into.), ignore them till they tire out for the first few moments. If you put them to bed and they got out, pick them up say bed time and put them to bed. Do this up to three times if they keep getting out and by the third time, say nothing. Do not say Anything. Just pick them up and put them to bed.

Keep doing this and yes, finally they will stay in bed and you will be able to sleep soon. Just be consistent and you've nailed bedtime into their schedule.