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Please help me! At wits end!!!!! Wwyd?

post #1 of 7
Thread Starter 

I am so desperate! I have a barely two year old ds who just looooves to terrorize his three month old brother. I'm sure it's not intentional. I think in his mind he wants to play with his brother and doesn't realize his brother wont play back with him. Some things he does to him are intentional though. To make things worse my three month old will not cry. He'll just take his brother's beatings with a smile. He only cries once in a while if he can't take it anymore. 

Now I don't know what to do. I tried everything I can think of. I even resorted to spanking which I hate since I was spanked as a child. The main thing is I want him to understand that we don't hurt, or hit, our family members or poke their eyes, etc. I know it sounds hypocrite, I've since stopped since that doesn't work either. He started hitting himself and us when he's frustrated and I in the end feel extremely guilty. We've all had our share of tears around here. So please how would you approach this? Should we start timeouts? Is there an effective book that my husband and I should be following? We're a very ap family with the exception of baby wearing (I'm still learning how to) and I would just like to have some kind of effective discipline method that's gentle enough for him. We're a bilingual family so he doesn't speak yet but he can understand us very well. Thanks for reading, I guess I needed to vent too.  
 

post #2 of 7

He is only just-turned 2.  His impulse control is next to none.  Even if he understands that he shouldn't poke, squish, etc the baby, in the moment it is v. v. difficult for him to stop himself if he has the impulse to do that.  This is probably not what you want to hear, but what it boils down to is that it is entirely up to you (not your ds) to make sure your 3mo is safe all the time.  You can't leave them alone together.  You can't leave baby where big brother can reach him (unless you are right there and keeping an eagle eye on ds1).  Wearing ds2 in a baby carrier or maybe laying him down in a pack'n'play will help keep him out of harms way.  (Or maybe ds1 could go up on your back while you're doing stuff around the house while ds2 is in a bouncy chair?).

 

I don't think this is a situation that warrants punishment at all.  I know (trust me - I *know* - I have 2 kids too!) how much the "mama bear" instinct can kick in when your older dc is being too rough with the younger one.  It's very difficult not to have a highly emotional angry reaction when something like that happens.  But don't forget that a) your ds1 is still so very young, and still at the very beginning of his journey learning how to act and express emotions in an acceptable way, and b) like I said above, in this case, it really is up to you to ensure your babe's safety.  Your ds1 is simply not old or mature enough to be held responsible for ds2's safety.  At this point it is up to you mama.

 

Now, that said, of course you should be working (laying the groundwork!) with ds1 on what *is* acceptable behaviour.  You say he is not yet talking and I'm sure that goes a long way towards his frustration.  Every time he hits, etc, try to give words to his feelings.  Keep it simple.  "Ds is mad!.  Ds wanted the cookie!" (or whatever... yk).  When you read with him point out the characters and what they might be feeling ("that girl looks sad.  Maybe she's sad because she lost her teddy bear").  Make conversations about emotions a part of your daily life (talk about your own emotions too).  Practice "gentle touches" too (on you, stuffed animals, real animals, baby, etc).  Let him know how much you like the gentle touches.

 

One other thing to think about is that to help set ds1 up for success it's important that he's well-fed, well-rested, and had enough 1-on-1 attention.  Hunger, tiredness, and craving attention (even negative) are all things that can exacerbate the acting-out.

 

ETA re. the babywearing... if you're interested I suggest you check out your local babywearing group.  They can be a wonderful resource to help you with different carries, how to get carriers "tweaked" just right, and most have a library of carriers that you can try out to find the one(s) that work best for you.  It's also a great place to meet like-minded mamas (and, at our meetings anyway, there are often toddlers your ds1's age there too that he could run around and have fun with).

post #3 of 7
Thread Starter 

Thanks Pianojazzgirl for all the suggestions. We do read a lot of books. He's just now starting to sound out the words we say. Yeah there's a local group in my area for babywearing, I've been meaning to go to. Thanks again

post #4 of 7

Hi! This may sound really simplistic but what about reinforcing over and over again things that he can do.  Hold his hands! Tickle his feet! Hands and Feet! Soft touches!  It always helps me to try and redirect to positive play than what they can't do.  If he hits his baby siblings face or pokes, I would say to look him in the eyes, tell him no, and move his hands gently to his siblings body rather than removing him all together. Have him find you things for the baby (a book, wipes, things you don't really need but he can find....ha)   Also, maybe it would help if he had a babydoll of his own.  So when you are feeding or changing the baby, you can encourage your son to do the same with his baby?

Best to you and your family!

post #5 of 7
Thread Starter 

Thanks AGF for the suggestions. We went and bought him a doll. Ironically called little brother, and he looooves it. He's been poking the eyes out of the doll and squeezing him but also giving him hugs and talking to it. It's really funny. I've set up some old disposable diapers we have but don't use (we use cloth) for his doll and now I'm working with him on being soft with his doll and with his baby brother. Thanks again.

 

Pianojazzgirl, I started wearing ds1 on my back and he's loving it! Still working on wearing my baby.

Anyway I never thought about how all those things like being well fed and well rested affected him. I mean I know it affects a person but never connected the dots with my son. We recently had family over from out of town so his schedule did get thrown off some. Now I'm making sure that he is well fed (not that he wasn't before but he's a picky eater) and well rested and I've noticed improvement on his part. 

 

Again thank you guys so much for the suggestions I know I have a long road ahead of me so it's nice to know I can always come here and vent and get help and support 

 

 

 

post #6 of 7

Glad things are looking up mama!  thumb.gif

post #7 of 7

So glad he likes it! And if you have a hair scarf, you can tie it on him for a sling for 'little brother' -- one of my little guys thought that was the best!

 

 

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