DD (~18 months) has started spitting when we say no about something or if we do something she doesn't like, etc. This one is new for me and not as easy for us to handle as the hitting phase she went through or the kicking that we're still dealing with.
With the hitting, we would always say something like "hitting hurts, be gentle with you hands" while taking her hands and either A) stopping her from hitting or B) helping her touch gently. After being consistent for a few weeks, we didn't even need to physically show her, although I do still hold her hand (gently) away from me if she's hitting and won't stop/I can't get away.
With the kicking, this often happens during diaper changes and she tries to kick my stomach (which, with a 36 week pregnant belly, it's a pretty easy target), so I just hold her legs still and tell her not to kick, sympathize that she doesn't like diaper changes, etc. I basically physically restrain her (again, gently) until she's not trying to kick me anymore and she gets the message pretty quickly.
But spitting can't exactly be handled like this. I can tell her not to spit, though with other actions, I've tried to focus more on telling her what to do and I'm not sure what that would be in this situation. Obviously I can't physically stop her from spitting and since its not actually hurting someone, I try to avoid that approach anyway. But other than these conclusions, I'm at a loss. We only do timeouts for very dangerous offenses (well, only one at this point really which is 'if you climb on the gate [at the top of the stairs] you have to go to your room' Two times of going to her room for 1 minute has completely solved the gate-climbing problem. I don't wish to overuse this technique).
Is spitting just something you completely ignore and then they lose interest in it? Any other ideas?
With the hitting, we would always say something like "hitting hurts, be gentle with you hands" while taking her hands and either A) stopping her from hitting or B) helping her touch gently. After being consistent for a few weeks, we didn't even need to physically show her, although I do still hold her hand (gently) away from me if she's hitting and won't stop/I can't get away.
With the kicking, this often happens during diaper changes and she tries to kick my stomach (which, with a 36 week pregnant belly, it's a pretty easy target), so I just hold her legs still and tell her not to kick, sympathize that she doesn't like diaper changes, etc. I basically physically restrain her (again, gently) until she's not trying to kick me anymore and she gets the message pretty quickly.
But spitting can't exactly be handled like this. I can tell her not to spit, though with other actions, I've tried to focus more on telling her what to do and I'm not sure what that would be in this situation. Obviously I can't physically stop her from spitting and since its not actually hurting someone, I try to avoid that approach anyway. But other than these conclusions, I'm at a loss. We only do timeouts for very dangerous offenses (well, only one at this point really which is 'if you climb on the gate [at the top of the stairs] you have to go to your room' Two times of going to her room for 1 minute has completely solved the gate-climbing problem. I don't wish to overuse this technique).
Is spitting just something you completely ignore and then they lose interest in it? Any other ideas?
But yeah, I would consider it a phase, at least for us.
I'll have to see what I can work out with that idea.
