DS hits himself

janice74 · June 2011

When I tell DS not to do something (like jumping on the couch), or that he can't have something (Like MORE TV) he starts slapping himself in the face and sometimes it escalates to head banging. Has anyone else had this issue?

I'm not sure if I should ignore him, hug him, or what. I want to hug him and tell him to stop, but that seems counteractive if I've just told him he was doing something bad. He's almost 2, so I think it's because he just can't verbalize his feelings yet, or he knows I may give in if he hits himself.

I'm reading "Happiest Toddler" and "Raising your spirited child" right now for help, but I would love to hear what other moms have found helpful.

KatieLG04 · June 2011

DS has done that occassionally kind of hitting himself in the head when he did something wrong. We usually just firmly said "Ben no!" and it got him to stop. He's it lasted a day or 2 when he was doing it often.

junebugrbig · June 2011

DS did it for a few months. I would tell him to stop but he continued to do it. So I eventually just ignored it and he stopped. I think it is just their way of expressing frustration due to lack of words. The more words he learned and the more he was able to express himself in other ways, the less he did it and eventually just stopped all together.