My neice is 2 1/2. I love her to death and have a very close relationship with her. My ds is 14 mos. Whenever my niece gets angry she will go over to ds and hit, kick or push him down or throw something at him. It usually has nothing to do with ds. If she is angry about spilling her juice she will hit ds. It seems like she targets him b/c she will get a stronger reaction, but we can't just ignore it b/c she is being physically abusive.
In general she has a very strong (iron) will and gets into power struggles with her mom all day long. My sister has no clue what to do and is not very open to suggestions. She will usually threaten, send her daughter to her room, force her to apologize and/or say she won't do it again (which really grates on me b/c it obviously means nothing to the child).
I've really tried not to get involved b/c I don't think it is my place to discipline someone else's child, I think my sister should handle it while I am comforting ds. But my niece has really hurt Ethan several time and she almost pushed him down the stairs the other day. I'm getting to the end of my rope.
I also have to admit that I am no expert at GD b/c Ethan is only 14 mos. My repetoire is pretty limited at this point.
Please help if you can. We usually spend 3-4 days a week with my niece and I'm tired of seeing my sweet ds abused.
In general she has a very strong (iron) will and gets into power struggles with her mom all day long. My sister has no clue what to do and is not very open to suggestions. She will usually threaten, send her daughter to her room, force her to apologize and/or say she won't do it again (which really grates on me b/c it obviously means nothing to the child).
I've really tried not to get involved b/c I don't think it is my place to discipline someone else's child, I think my sister should handle it while I am comforting ds. But my niece has really hurt Ethan several time and she almost pushed him down the stairs the other day. I'm getting to the end of my rope.
I also have to admit that I am no expert at GD b/c Ethan is only 14 mos. My repetoire is pretty limited at this point.
Please help if you can. We usually spend 3-4 days a week with my niece and I'm tired of seeing my sweet ds abused.
). There was another thread about similar issues and one of the Mamas there was saying that if we, as parents allow another child to hurt or bully ours, they end up feeling they weren't good enough to be protected. Maybe that Mama will find this thread and chime in too. My point is just, if you can't get the mom and the daughter to change what they're doing, then you'll have to change what you're doing. This probably means not being able to see them as much or having to leave if the child becomes aggressive when you do see them. If your neice attacks your baby tell her that if she hurts him again that you guys will have to leave (or if she's at your house, she will have to go) because it makes you sad to see him get hurt and you won't allow anyone to hurt him. Then if she does it again, leave.
