I'm 99% sure that my little DS has some sensory issues. Whether he has some diagnosable issue or not isn't the point...the results are the same. I'm trying to minimize triggers, and do sort of a sensory diet kind of thing.
My sister in law is a therapist and showed me a few extra tricks.
But in the meantime...things are escalating at home. We've recently decided to divorce, so there's been some extra stress and distraction in the house. And definitely too much tv lately!!! (That I can work on since I just turned off the cable last week.)
But I'd be happy to hear GD ideas of how to react. I'm reading Playful Parenting at the moment, but it doesn't seem to have concrete ideas for dealing with physical violence against myself or others. We usually do a short time-out. Just time to chill out and regroup. His pinching and scratching really truly HURTS! He's empathetic and always kissing my owies to make them better while we're laying down to go to sleep. My arms are always covered in scratches and bruises and he's narrowly missed my eye a couple of times.
I know things we need to work on long term. More attention, lower stress level, routine, less or no tv, more sleep. I need short-term advice. How to react WHEN it happens.
Picture a happy two year old playing calmly and suddenly turning around and grabbing your arm so hard it breaks skin. What would you do?
(What I do is yell OW and remove the pinching fingers then put him in his room for 2 minutes. We've recently started using the timer.)
Other what-would-you-do scenarios:
Child is mad about something and purposefully hits a person/animal with a wooden toy. (We usually just remove the toy and put it somewhere else.)
Child is angry at not getting his way and slaps/hits/pinches? (He's been known to pinch his father in the first thing at eye level when he's standing in front on him!)
Laying together at bedtime, child struggles, pinching and scratching and hitting arms and face. (I try a lot of playful parenting. I also started dissasociating the negative behavior...asking his hands to go in time-out under the blanket. And he'll put them in there and tell them to be nice.)
I need concrete ideas because I caught myself getting ANGRY a couple of times this weekend -- my fault...he's touchy because I've been stressed and distracted -- and that is NOT where I want to go. One of my final factors in deciding that divorce is where I need to go is that it's affecting my parenting in negative ways. The decision was made a couple of weeks ago, but it's still stressful in our house (though it is amicable and civil with no fighting). It's going to be stressful to a certain point for a while. I did raise my voice this weekend which I've only ever done maybe once or twice before but I had anger behind it. Discipline in our house has never gotten more harsh than a time-outs, but things seem to be escalating in DS and my frustration level. Help me re-direct please!!!
My sister in law is a therapist and showed me a few extra tricks.
But in the meantime...things are escalating at home. We've recently decided to divorce, so there's been some extra stress and distraction in the house. And definitely too much tv lately!!! (That I can work on since I just turned off the cable last week.)
But I'd be happy to hear GD ideas of how to react. I'm reading Playful Parenting at the moment, but it doesn't seem to have concrete ideas for dealing with physical violence against myself or others. We usually do a short time-out. Just time to chill out and regroup. His pinching and scratching really truly HURTS! He's empathetic and always kissing my owies to make them better while we're laying down to go to sleep. My arms are always covered in scratches and bruises and he's narrowly missed my eye a couple of times.
I know things we need to work on long term. More attention, lower stress level, routine, less or no tv, more sleep. I need short-term advice. How to react WHEN it happens.
Picture a happy two year old playing calmly and suddenly turning around and grabbing your arm so hard it breaks skin. What would you do?
(What I do is yell OW and remove the pinching fingers then put him in his room for 2 minutes. We've recently started using the timer.)
Other what-would-you-do scenarios:
Child is mad about something and purposefully hits a person/animal with a wooden toy. (We usually just remove the toy and put it somewhere else.)
Child is angry at not getting his way and slaps/hits/pinches? (He's been known to pinch his father in the first thing at eye level when he's standing in front on him!)
Laying together at bedtime, child struggles, pinching and scratching and hitting arms and face. (I try a lot of playful parenting. I also started dissasociating the negative behavior...asking his hands to go in time-out under the blanket. And he'll put them in there and tell them to be nice.)
I need concrete ideas because I caught myself getting ANGRY a couple of times this weekend -- my fault...he's touchy because I've been stressed and distracted -- and that is NOT where I want to go. One of my final factors in deciding that divorce is where I need to go is that it's affecting my parenting in negative ways. The decision was made a couple of weeks ago, but it's still stressful in our house (though it is amicable and civil with no fighting). It's going to be stressful to a certain point for a while. I did raise my voice this weekend which I've only ever done maybe once or twice before but I had anger behind it. Discipline in our house has never gotten more harsh than a time-outs, but things seem to be escalating in DS and my frustration level. Help me re-direct please!!!
