Hitting

Perfect Sonnet

Has anyone had any experience in reacting to hitting or kicking?  My daughter has always been very spirited.  Typical toddler behavior, she has epic meltdowns when she doesn't get what she wants.  We usually respond to this by not giving her the dangerous/random thing what she wants, removing her from the situation if needed, and/or ignoring her tantrum.  However, she has recently began hitting my husband and me when she is in one of these situations.  We usually sternly tell her not to hit, and ask her to apologize to the offended parent constantly reiterating that hitting is bad, we do not hit, etc.  Does anyone else have any effective methods for dealing with this?  Is it a stage that a lot of kids go through?

ashiscute

Like Nic we started with timeouts around 17 months for hitting, kicking type behaviors. If DS hit once he was given a stern warning. If he hit again (and in the beginning he always hit again) he'd get timeout.

Now he is older and hits usually only when tired or sick. We are consistent and that really helps. When their timeout is over we reiterate no hitting, hug and move on. We ask them to say sorry but don't require it. Most times they do.

Perfect Sonnet

Hmm, she was never a hitter when she was younger, just recently.  She did just move into a larger pre-school/daycare after being in a small home daycare since she was a baby.  Maybe it is something she picked up there.  We have never had a lot of luck with timeouts, but maybe we should try again.  Thanks for the responses.

ashiscute

Perfect Sonnet said:

Hmm, she was never a hitter when she was younger, just recently.  She did just move into a larger pre-school/daycare after being in a small home daycare since she was a baby.  Maybe it is something she picked up there.  We have never had a lot of luck with timeouts, but maybe we should try again.  Thanks for the responses.

That's not abnormal. DD never really hit but when DS started hitting her she didn't just sit there and take it. We had to work on both of them.

I like timeouts because they are consistent and predictable. You know exactly what the consequence is and so does your LO.