Seven Kids: Toddlers hitting

First word was "Ow."  Yep, second born.

Most people respond to the hitting toddler by saying, "No hitting! Hitting hurts." 


If you tell your child what NOT to do, then you set them up for failure in 2 ways. One, they only hear the thing they are not supposed to be doing. You say "No hitting," and he hears "Mwah hitting." You say "Don't run," and he hears "Mwah run." The other way is that you are not giving him appropriate alternatives to try out.

Try this one.
"Oh! Ari hurt a friend. So sad. Ari, touch gently." or "Ari, use words." or "Ari, play over here a little further away from that child."

Give him something he can respond to. "No hitting" doesn't give him any room to respond.  "Touch gently" and "Come hit this drum" do give the child something to respond to positively.








This post is being linked to WFMW.