This study investigates conceptions of early childhood discipline strategies discussed in focus groups with parents and grandparents in a poor urban area in Tanzania. A grounded theory analysis suggested a model that included four discipline strategies related to corporal punishment: to beat with care, to treat like an egg, as if beating a snake and the non-care of non-beating. In order to develop strategies to prevent corporal punishment in the home in accordance with the UN recommendation and article 19 in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the power of caregiving needs further investigation. (Contains 6 notes and 1 figure.)