Sarah does this too. I have grabbed her hands and told her to be gentle, or I wont be gentle and smack her bottom. she still tries it but knows when not to push it. I eel for you hun
My son is doing the same thing but he only hits me. I tried smacking him (on the nappy or lightly on his hand) back but I think it reinforced it. My steps are:
1) Tried the "No! Don't hit" but it had limited success. He only paid attention when Daddy said No.
2) If I am holding him, I immediately put him down and step away. He really doesn't like that and tries to get a cuddle. I then tell him not to hit mummy and he usually listens
3) If I am sitting down, I get up and step away. Same result as above
I will be interested to see if anybody has any other techniques more effective than mine as it is really frustrating.
I think it's normal development. DS now only hits his parents, not other children. And claws my eyes out, he KNOWS they are "poorly". But that's stopping now as we will just literally sit and take it. We don't remind him to be gentle or nice because that only works with other people, not us (even the TV and windows he won't hit, just us). We just take a couple of hits and then tell him we have to do something else and he can play with something else. I see it as a vent for his feelings as he can't communicate in any other way.
Doing High5s really works well, as does clapping. Giving him his xylophone to hit doesn't work for us. And he knows not to hit with hard toys too, that is a good lesson to learn early on! Making DS go for a run sometimes tires him out so he doesn't hit as well, he needs energy to start hitting and clawing. And I mean we hold both his hands and he has to run to keep up - he loves it (I wouldn't do it otherwise) and it stops him hitting.
When DD started doing this at 2 years we would give her time out by explaining what she did hurt and then placed her facing the wall for a minute and then getting her to apologise. She quickly understood that what she had done wasn't going to be tolerated and she refused to apologise for quite a while (so much so that she was nicknamed John Howard for a month or so ).
Now if she raises a hand we just have to say "do you want to stand in time out?" she will say no and stop what she is doing. She is also good at saying sorry if she accidentally hurts me as well. She has even taken herself to time out when she knows she has done something wrong which is pretty funny .
I agree with the girls who have said to say 'no hitting' and to stand up and move away. It is a normal behaviour at this age since he probably doen't have the language to say what he wants, or wants attention and knows that this will get him some. Even though it's negative.
So by telling him in a short, sharp command 'Stop, don't hit mummy' in a firm, deep voice, looking at his face and then stepping away from him, or moving him away from you and don't look directly at him, should show him he won't get attention for it. Then try to get him to say sorry (he may be a bit young), or show him what gentle is (pat his face/ pat your face with his hand etc...) and tell him again 'No hitting, it hurts- ouch!! Gentle.'
Good luck toddlers can be stubburn little things!!
When Natty hits me I make sure I hold her hand and look into her eyes with my 'cross' face and say, 'Don't hit Mummy'. I wait for it to sink in - there are usually tears. After a few seconds we have a cuddle. I *think* this is working, but she is still very young and gets pretty upset when I'm cross with her. But I think eye contact is very important, and that sort of communication is often more effective than verbal IMO. GL with it.
we tell sophie that we dont hit in this house, she hurt mum/dad and you need to say sorry, she kisses us straight away, she get told if she does it again she will sit on the floor by herself (mini time out)
Thank heavens other peoples 2 yr olds are doing this too! Riley hits me when he is cranky and I have just been saying "no hitting" and trying to get him to apologise. He hits DD2 the most and I have been getting quite angry with him about that.
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