Do you punish for throwing fits?

 I put them in timeout until the fit is over if they don't stop by the time I count to 3. My girls are both good at turning it on and off whenever they feel like it, so this is the best deterrent I've found.

I swat his butt or put him in the crib.  

I should have added that tho he's 17 months he's very advanced. He understands exactly what we're saying and is verbal enough that I can (kind of) reason with him. Yesterday he went to throw one and caught the corner of a drawer and made his head bleed. I think that's why my DH swats his butt. That and we have a nephew that is horrible- he's never punished and to be in public with him is a nightmare! We're both determined not to have a child like that! Thanks for all the input!

"Swat" him to "let him know to stop"?

I have to be honest - I in no way get that philosophy.

Thankfully my kids were not big meltdown throwers. We would typically take that time to have them use calming tactics to get self control, but there were some times we removed them (put them in their room" until they could calm down. Tbh, I only remember really doing that with ds2. He would walk out a few minutes later much calmer.

we tell sd to go to her room till shes done.

For the most part it gets ignored.  I ask her to go to her room until she's done with her tantrum..  then she can come talk to me.  I let her know that she has the right to be upset, mad..  whatever.  But certain behaviors and actions aren't okay (like throwing, hitting, name calling, pinching, biting.. etc.)

 ignore them, or send them to time out, and they can come out of time out when they are calmed down.

Dd is 3.5 and doesn't throw many fits, but when she does I just ask her to go to her room, or tell her to be quiet. She knows that if she is not physically hurt, that she doesn't need to cry. That's why we don't have many fits, but like I said she is 3.5.

Quoting Tyler0102:

When my daughter is throwing a fit I usually ignore her til shes done then talk to her about it. If shes hitting or throwing things I put her in time out

I do the same thing with my son.

Not at that age, I didn't.  When my Daughter at 5 does it, she does. I don't punish my 2 1/2 year old for throwing a fit. He rarely has but he does it more out of frustration and my Daughter does it because she isn't getting her way.