Hitting, pushing, hair pulling, being two...

Rachey1082

J has a little friend ago lives down the street. He LOVES playing with her, but lately has had issues with hitting and hair pulling. He's also been known to bite and push. When he acts out I pick him up and stick his nose against the fence.

Does anyone have any good suggestions on how to make him stop?! Nothing is working for us.

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha

LalaMama81 said:

I just remove her, tell her gentle touch and that we don't hit. After 30 seconds or so I ask her to say she's sorry, which consists of her basically patting someone's face.

It hasn't stopped the behavior but its not getting worse. Usually she hits when someone is in her way or has something she wants.

If she does it several times in succession I'll do more of a time out.

That's more or less us as well. I also tell her what she should do, eg: "we don't grab toys out of someone else's hands, we ask for them". I figure if I repeat it enough, eventually, she'll get it.

Rachey1082

Monsieur_et_Madame_Ha said:

LalaMama81 said:

I just remove her, tell her gentle touch and that we don't hit. After 30 seconds or so I ask her to say she's sorry, which consists of her basically patting someone's face.

It hasn't stopped the behavior but its not getting worse. Usually she hits when someone is in her way or has something she wants.

If she does it several times in succession I'll do more of a time out.

That's more or less us as well. I also tell her what she should do, eg: "we don't grab toys out of someone else's hands, we ask for them". I figure if I repeat it enough, eventually, she'll get it.

I did a poor job of explaining what I do. But, actually this is more accurate. It has helped a tiny bit to say, "we don't hit/push our friends, just say to your friend, 'may I have a turn please'". Other than that, he keeps bullying her.

melissa0726

Our go-to is "gentle touch"....which she learned from when we started letting her interact more with the dog.  If she is getting too wound up or thinks the inappropriate behavior is becoming a game, I remove her from the situation and put her by herself. 

I haven't had to deal with this much with other kids, though, mostly she is acting out towards me.  So that might need a different approach.