Hitting

lalove69

HELP!  Our normally very sweet 16 mo daughter hits mommy when she is upset.  I  understand her frustration but how can I teach her that hitting is unacceptable behavior.  I have given her a two minute time out in her crib.  Not sure if it was effective, she stopped crying, hits less but still hits.  Others have suggested I hit her hand, but I don't want to teach "stop hitting" by hitting.

Doylesa

When DS did this a few times, my first step was to take DS hand and gently touch me, and say "gentle". Now that he's older he totally understands the concept of gentle, whether it be with me, an animal, another child, etc.

Dani_0601

My son hits a lot too. At first I did the no hitting with hitting & I found that it made it worse. So now I tell him, firmly, "no hitting." I also say "be a nice boy. nice touch. mommy loves nice boys." His hitting has cut down tremendously & he tends to listen if I can catch him BEFORE he hits. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't He's almost 20mos old so he's at that stage. I try time-outs too but he gets so angry in them that he hits more.

lalove69

It sounds like you're saying that I have to be consistent and patient with teaching "no hiting."  This has been a problem for the last two weeks.  I only tried the time out once, I might try that again.  Typically I hold her hand and firmly say, "stop" or "no hitting."  But she seems to calm down more from a distraction.

darleenmonroe

We treated the no hitting teachings the same as the no biting teaching. Everytime DS would bite me I would immediately put him down and say no biting and not pick him back up. Same rule for the no hitting. If he hits me I get up, make eye contact and say no hitting and go away from him.

Seems to have worked so far.

emberlee3

DarleenChris:

We treated the no hitting teachings the same as the no biting teaching. Everytime DS would bite me I would immediately put him down and say no biting and not pick him back up. Same rule for the no hitting. If he hits me I get up, make eye contact and say no hitting and go away from him.

Seems to have worked so far.

This is what I do, too.  When I go back to him, I say, "Gentle with mommy," and show him gentle touches.  Now, if he starts to hit or pull my hair, he stops when I say, "Gentle," and I don't even have to put him down.  Ignoring your LO is so powerful!