My DS (2y9m) has had a rather long history of being on the aggressive side, especially when he was 18-26 months. He used to hit me pretty regularly and other kids when he got a chance. I avoided playdates for a long time to protect the other kids (and not to allow my DS to "practice" his behavior), and worked with him a LOT about how to be gentle, how hitting hurts, and giving him other outlets for some of his frustrations/concerns ie. words.
Now he doesn't hit so much, or at least probably about what's normal for his age. However, he does "pretend to be a bear" and "pretend to shoot things" in which he growls, snarls, gnashes his teeth at people from time to time, and sometimes he'll try to wrestle quite roughly while making his bear sounds and banging his head all over us. Thankfully, he does not try wrestling with other little kids. He does pick up any pointed object and pretends to shoot people/things. In general he still doesn't appear to be very interested in other children, but he is able to control his impulses to hit them for the most part.
I get to thank my MIL for his new inspirations, as she has shown him Disney's "Fox & The Hound", which, in my opinion, is WAY too violent for a kid this young.
While he's mostly being pretty harmless in this play, it does concern me mostly because he's developed it at the same time he stopped hitting so much. Is he just using this pretend game as an outlet for his aggressive feelings, and if so, is that ok? Or should we keep trying to work with him on what's behind those feelings? Is there such thing as an "appropriate" outlet for aggressive tendancies for a kid this age? I know some older boys wrestle with eachother, but I don't think he's old enough to understand the boundries of not biting, hitting, etc. Is it a good idea or a bad idea for us to allow him to wrestle with us?
We're not violent people at all. We aren't inclined to want to wrestle eitherl, but as this is our first kid and everyone tells us "he's a boy, boy's like to be aggressive" we're not sure how we can best guide him through his impulses.
Now he doesn't hit so much, or at least probably about what's normal for his age. However, he does "pretend to be a bear" and "pretend to shoot things" in which he growls, snarls, gnashes his teeth at people from time to time, and sometimes he'll try to wrestle quite roughly while making his bear sounds and banging his head all over us. Thankfully, he does not try wrestling with other little kids. He does pick up any pointed object and pretends to shoot people/things. In general he still doesn't appear to be very interested in other children, but he is able to control his impulses to hit them for the most part.
I get to thank my MIL for his new inspirations, as she has shown him Disney's "Fox & The Hound", which, in my opinion, is WAY too violent for a kid this young.
While he's mostly being pretty harmless in this play, it does concern me mostly because he's developed it at the same time he stopped hitting so much. Is he just using this pretend game as an outlet for his aggressive feelings, and if so, is that ok? Or should we keep trying to work with him on what's behind those feelings? Is there such thing as an "appropriate" outlet for aggressive tendancies for a kid this age? I know some older boys wrestle with eachother, but I don't think he's old enough to understand the boundries of not biting, hitting, etc. Is it a good idea or a bad idea for us to allow him to wrestle with us?
We're not violent people at all. We aren't inclined to want to wrestle eitherl, but as this is our first kid and everyone tells us "he's a boy, boy's like to be aggressive" we're not sure how we can best guide him through his impulses.
