When A Toddler Hits

I have been super worried about my 26-month old son lately. He hits! He would hit his yaya when he doesn't get his way, he would hit me and now - he hits his classmates too.

I was definitely bothered when he hit his classmate earlier because he was not provoked at all. After last week's incident; I talked to him about being nice and not hitting because that would make mommy sad and that nobody would want to be his friend if he hits. He seemed like he understood naman. So I thought it would not happen again.

But it did. Scolding him didn't seem to work either, if felt like he enjoyed the attention. Anyway, I got to reading a few online advice about it and here some that made sense to me.

Your two year old sounds like he is becoming interested in other people. Hitting, pushing and grabbing toys are all ways that toddlers use to try to make contact with others, before they develop other social skills. Your son sounds like he is curious about other people. He has limited language and experience, so rather than walking up to someone and saying, "Excuse me. Can I play with you?," he shows his interest by smacking them. Subsequently, he discovers that he can get a reaction when he hits someone. He may even get two reactions, one from the person he hits and one from you. Even though the reactions probably aren’t pleasant, he is intrigued by them.

Toddlers are fascinated with what they can make happen over and over and they are also curious about how people react in different situations. Hitting people satisfies both of these interests. Furthermore, toddlers see the world only from their own point of view and therefore don’t understand that other people have different ideas and feelings than they do. "If hitting you is fun for me, I expect that it is fun for you, too." They are often very surprised at first when they hit, bite or push someone and that person cries. Sometime they continue to hit, just to see if they will get the same reaction every time and from different people.

Since they are fascinated with what they can make happen, they will repeat behaviors that cause certain predictable outcomes. These experiences can provide wonderful opportunities to learn. The frustrating thing for parents is that toddlers have to repeat behaviors numerous times before they can fully learn something.

Source: Parenting.iVillage

For some things that you can do to help your child learn positive ways to interact and also help keep other children safe in the meantime click to read the rest of the article here.