Toddler aggression MIL vent

twirlyjack73

My stupid MIL taught DS that if he was mad at something he should hit it.  For example, if he bumps into the couch & hurts himself he hits it.   This teaches him to not take responsibility & to blame other & be the victim.  Which is funny b/c she's so like that.  It's a terrible lesson to teach anybody.  He's very tender hearted otherwise but he's quite aggressive when doing that & it's been months & I can't seem to break him of it.  Any ideas?  TIA

rjeller32

My mom actually did this with all of us kids when I was little. I personally don't feel it taught me to not take responsibility or be a victim. It taught me that the couch was stupid for being there if I ran into it. Ha. But really, it was always just a quick way to get me to stop crying, because I would giggle at my mom, thinking the couch had any reason to hurt me.

But, you could find another way for him to vent when he bumps something or gets mad at something. I do the "shake it off", and make my LO wiggle whatever got hurt, and it just makes her giggle off the pain. Or I tease about calling a "wahh-bulance" or "whine-1-1". Basically take her mind of the frustration and make her giggle instead.

twirlyjack73

Smart, I like that,  thanks.