Re: May Infants and Toddlers
posted at 5/7/2013 11:14 PM EDT
In response to Trouble30's comment:
Question for you all. DS (21 months) has gotten really bad at pushing, hitting and hair pulling. We do timeouts, but it doesn't seem to effect his behaviour. Any advice on how to get him to stop? Or maybe what is causing him to hit? He has many words and understands a lot so I'm not sure why he chooses to hit over using his words.
Observe and see when he does it - he pushes, hits, etc. FOR A REASON. It's NEVER for "no reason" although the reason might be hard for you to notice at first, so you have to really observe and see when it is. Is he hungry so he loses patience easily? Is it when he's tired? When he's wound up, really excited, so at someone else's house when you first get there? Or only when he's with x # of children (like he can handle one other child but if he's in a group of 3 or 4 kids, watch out?) Is it only with his older sibling?
Having words and being able to pull those words out at the right time when under stress are two different things. Under stress might be someone is taking his truck, and he can't say My truck, Give it back" fast enough, or his brain won't pull those words out fast enough, so he pushes to get his truck back.
Just keep reminding him, by getting down on his level "DS, you can't hit. You want the truck. Can you say "My truck, give it back" to your sister? And then no matter how many words he says, you say "Sister, please give brother's truck back. He had it first. Let's find you something to use, how about the car?"
Also, his older sister might on purpose be making him crazy, teasing him, etc. So watch out, because he might then hit, she cries, and you notice the hitting/crying but not the teasing or truck stealing that got her the hit. Sometimes they have to work it out, too, because if he hits then she might remember not to keep takin' his stuff!