Scratching, pinching, and grabbing.

otc

What worked for you to eliminate this behaviour.  My 16 month old son is getting more and more into this.  Today when I told him no scratching he smiled and scratched me again, saying scratching.  I remove him from me or the dog and take him to a new room.  I look him in the eyes and say no scratching, etc.  He laughs.  I need advice as he KNOWS what he is doing and that I don't like it.

 

suzymarie

William:  smack smack smack

Mommy:  no no William, hitting hurts.  Lets touch gentle.  (demonstrates gentle touches)

William:  gentle, gentle, smack smack smack, giggles hysterically.

 Yah..... it was awesome.  The good news is he outgrew his fascination with hitting in a few weeks.  He still thinks it is a riot to pat the dog gently, then yank his fur, though. 

otc

He has nice and gentle down but this scratching is something else.  So time is my friend as usual:)

Jelliebean1982

I'm telling you, this works wonders.  Don't say ow, don't give any kind of reaction that he'd like.  Just say, "No biting/hitting/scratching.  Mommy is hurt."  Pretend to cry and walk into another room (you have to leave, no time-out or getting mad).  He'll get really sad.  When you feel the time is right have him come kiss your owie and give hugs.  It teaches them not to be aggressive as well as empathy.  We did this with our DD and it only took 2 times before she got the hint. 

Celyn

All the usual stuff worked really well for DS1 - saying OW, walking away, etc.  None of that worked for DS2.  What worked with him was totally ignoring it.  If the pinch really hurt, I'd remove his hands and sometimes hold them if he went right back to it.  Other than that, I'd do my best to show no reaction and not look at him.  And when he wasn't pinching I did my best to give him positive feedback on the way he was touching me.

Now we're on to hitting (mostly his brother, who is just getting his just desserts...).  It's much harder to ignore, and impossible for his 3-yr old brother to ignore. So, so far, no working strategy on that one.