Hitting

My one year old recently started hitting. He smacked my grand mother right in the face, on purpose. You should have seen the look on his face lol. He hit his dad a few times as well. I don't want this to get out of hand. How did you address hitting with such a young child?

My grandmother actually hit him back. I am very much against hitting my child, especially my one year old. Please don't suggest it.

Thanks.

Dd started and we completely ignored it. She got bored with it pretty quickly and hasn't done it in a couple months

Grab his hands everytime (gently) and say no hitting. Repeat about 50 times.

Quoting Colt's mommy:" Grab his hands everytime (gently) and say no hitting. Repeat about 50 times. "

This is what me and SO have been doing.

Quoting Emmy's Mom:" Dd started and we completely ignored it. She got bored with it pretty quickly and hasn't done it in a couple months"

I haven't even thought about ignoring. I'll definitely try it. Thanks.

Quoting Colt's mommy:" Grab his hands everytime (gently) and say no hitting. Repeat about 50 times. "

I feel like this is a pretty natural response and I am certainly not knocking it. I do want to offern an alternative. When you say "No hitting" the child still hears hitting, so in sense you are reinforcing the word hitting. Instead of this, when my 14m/o hits, I gently take his hand and say "Be Gentle" and then I model gentle touch while holding his hand. I really believe this is a usefull method becuase you are using language related to the behavior you want your child to do instead of not do, another example is when kids are running in a place when they should not run, instead of "No Running" I say "Please Walk" it is positive redirection.  

Quoting Nancy Botwin:" I haven't even thought about ignoring. I'll definitely try it. Thanks."

Ignoring hasn't worked for us. She hits when she's mad. She started hitting at 9mo, going on two next month.  

Quoting Trixie7678:" I feel like this is a pretty natural response and I am certainly not knocking it. I do want to offern ... [snip!] ... are running in a place when they should not run, instead of "No Running" I say "Please Walk" it is positive redirection.  "

That makes since. I don't know. Saying that and "not in your mouth" worked great for my LO.

<blockquote><b>Quoting Trixie7678:</b>" I feel like this is a pretty natural response and I am certainly not knocking it. I do want to offern ... [snip!] ... are running in a place when they should not run, instead of "No Running" I say "Please Walk" it is positive redirection.  "</blockquote>




I always want to try something like this, but in the moment it always comes out as 'please don't do so and so thing'

Quoting Colt's mommy:" That makes since. I don't know. Saying that and "not in your mouth" worked great for my LO. "

This is probably because I am a constant optimist who always seems to see the glass as half full and I try to apply that in all parts of my life so having that said for me in my parenting, I try to avoid using the word "no" as often as I can. I'm not perfect and I def. catch myself yelling it here and there in moments that totally catch me off guard but I really do like the idea of using positive words and suggestions to redirect inappropriate behavior.

They just think it's a game and like the response they get. I'd just ignore it at that age, it should pass. They don't realize that it's not right as they've not developed any empathy yet.

Quoting Squid Kid:" Ignoring hasn't worked for us. She hits when she's mad. She started hitting at 9mo, going on two next month.  "

This is different, hitting as a response to emotion can be tough to break.