One keeps hitting the other?

AmyJoy728

My boys are just abt 11mo. I have noticed for the past few weeks that L keeps hitting/knocking down P. For example if P is laying on the ground to get fed breakfast or a diaper change L sits above him and hits him in the head/smacks him face/pokes him in the eyes. I have tried saying no hit not nice, nice pets, watch his eyes, moving his hands away, handing him a toy which he then hits P in the face with, lightly smacking his hand when it gets near P.. I can't pick him up and move him as then P would run away and the whole thing would start over. I end up raising my voice and pushing him back a little bit but both are only temporarily stopping him.. Any ideas?

Also, they have started the yell/scream thing when they want attention/ run out of food on their tray/ want to just make noise. I don't give them more food until they are quiet, but is it better to say no scream or ignore it?

Jen0204

My older one is a bit of a bully but my younger one is obsessed with her sister (to the point where if DD2 wakes up from her nap first she keeps trying to get into the nursery to get to her sister).  We spend all day redirecting and on Friday I started short time outs with DD1.

Everyone has different ideas of how to parent, and different things work for different people.  Personally I don't believe in hitting - my sister would swat at my nephew's hand when he would hit the girls or pull their hair (he's 5 months older) and he just hits more now.  I don't think you can teach not to hit by hitting yourself.  Especially if you just swat his hand lightly, he'll likely think it's a game.  At that age (and still now) I just used a firm voice, which is more serious and a little louder then my normal voice, but not yelling.

As far as the screaming goes, the girls do it too.  I can't say I blame them - they can't talk but they understand a lot more now and want to get their point across.  Whether it's that they're mad or excited they don't have words for it yet, so they yell.  If they're yelling because they run out of food I say "more?" in and effort to try to teach them the word for what they want.  If they're just excited and playing I just let them play (unless we're at a restaurant, in which case I say "inside voices" - which they don't get at all - and give them some food to calm them down).  If they're throwing a temper tantrum I ignore it.  They're kids and should have fun and they'll get excited and yell sometimes.

mirnb

If my boys get aggressive with each other I pick up the one that has been hurt and say to the offender "OUCH! You hurt him" while rubbing his back to comfort....funny thing the other day when my younger one hurt himself his brother went over and rubbed his back....CUTEST thing ever!

as for the screaming my boys have went through stages of this and then stopped for a while...If they are just screaming for attention I ignore....I have also taught them "shhhhh" and they think its funny to make that sounds so if they are getting loud I quietly "shhh" and they start doing it too....I also say "mmmmmooorrreee" if they are yelling for food, trying to reinforce the use of the word!