I must shame-facedly admit that I thought we were "done" with hitting. DD went through a brief phase with it around 18 months, and it passed...till now. (She is now 25 months.) Recently, though, we have had some mild hitting and kicking during moments of emotional anger. I understand it, it's really not terrible as far as these behaviors go, and I am comfortable with how we are dealing with it (the standard moving away/not allowing it, plus "I know you are angry, but hitting is not okay. Hitting hurts people and makes them sad. I don't like being hit.")
BUT...what's getting me is that she has started hitting during moments of tenderness and cuddling. We will be happily snuggling or physically playing (she likes a certain amount of gentle roughhousing, like rolling around on the floor) and she hits--not at all hard, but very deliberately, with this thoughtful look on her face. She sometimes gives me the "We don't hit" speech herself AS she does this. (She is very verbal.) I have been reacting as I would if she did this when angry, with moving away and again the "no hitting" reminder. She instantly bursts into huge tears and asks sadly to be picked up, and then she calms down right away.
???! This is so confusing to me. It is weirding me out. Has anyone else been through this? All I can think of is that it's yet more of the classic 2yo dependence/independence stuff. I feel kind of weird going through this cycle with her--it feels almost fake, as opposed to when she hits in anger, which feels very genuine-- but is she working through something or what? It feels kind of like the classic "testing boundaries" thing, but I'm particularly struck by the odd timing.
BUT...what's getting me is that she has started hitting during moments of tenderness and cuddling. We will be happily snuggling or physically playing (she likes a certain amount of gentle roughhousing, like rolling around on the floor) and she hits--not at all hard, but very deliberately, with this thoughtful look on her face. She sometimes gives me the "We don't hit" speech herself AS she does this. (She is very verbal.) I have been reacting as I would if she did this when angry, with moving away and again the "no hitting" reminder. She instantly bursts into huge tears and asks sadly to be picked up, and then she calms down right away.
???! This is so confusing to me. It is weirding me out. Has anyone else been through this? All I can think of is that it's yet more of the classic 2yo dependence/independence stuff. I feel kind of weird going through this cycle with her--it feels almost fake, as opposed to when she hits in anger, which feels very genuine-- but is she working through something or what? It feels kind of like the classic "testing boundaries" thing, but I'm particularly struck by the odd timing.
