I'm a mother of a two year old, and she's my only child. She doesn't see any abusive behavior or acts, even at grandma's house. She isn't around any other young children that act out. Lately she's been hitting, kicking and covers my mouth when in anger. I explain with words that she understands that we don't hit, it hurts mommy etc. I realize all children go through stages, but her acting out is driving me crazy! How do u all react when your child acts out with hitting and kicking? or any advise of what else to do
My DD is 2.5 and will sometimes hit and kick. For her it is often a sign of frustration more than aggression. I try to empathize and wrap her in a hug (while holding her hands)... I tell her that I know she's frustrated, but I will not let her hit me because it hurts, and that she can growl or stomp her feet instead. If that doesnt work, i put her down and walk away. My DD is very verbal, and a couple of times has replied, "but I want to hurt you!" I tell her that I don't think she really does; that she would probably feel pretty sad to see me hurt, etc. Usually that ends it... I think she's just testing boundaries and needs help figuring out what to do with big feelings. HTH
My 2yo is the same way, will start to hit and tell me stop it or no mommy if I ask her to stop doing something. If I escalate, she escalates, so we mostly ignore, I ask once for her to stop, if she doesn't I either take away the object in question (which also leads to a tantrum but better than being able to throw something!) or I pick her up and remove her which causes her to flail, but I move her far enough away, place her on the floor and let her tantrum away. When she's done, we talk about it, I ask her how she feels, sometimes she will come out an apologize to me for hitting if I tell her she hurt me. Lot's of repetition and modeling the behavior you want, then repeat! I feel like a broken record some days but we've avoided major outbursts and she's slowly but surely learning to express more of her feelings - highly verbal from an early age, it's just getting her to understand what words go to what feelings!
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