Children always act out the worse with the primary caregiver. You should not take this as a sign of disrespect, the main reason why they do this is because they are most comfortable with you. Many parents complain that their children hit people they interact with and that they have tried a lot of different thing to control this behavior but nothing works. Children especially young toddlers hit, push and grab things as this is their way to make contact with things and people around them. They do this as they are still learning to speak and have limited language and have not yet developed other social skills. A child repeats this behavior over and over again because he is intrigued by the reaction it get from you as well as the person it hit.
Many people will suggest hitting the child in order to teach it a lesson but never do that. Always remember that you can never hit a child, especially not on the face, mouth and head. This makes the child feel rejected as an area such as the face is where the child develops a sense of self. Never hit or smack the head as it can cause brain trauma.
There are a lot of ways to correct naughty behavior which don’t involve being violent. Some of these are:
• Send the child to a designated zone in the house that you call the time out or naughty corner. Ensure that this is not a dark room or far away from where you are so that you can keep and eye on him or her.
• If you’ve tried to correct the child but it refuses to listen to you then ignore it for some time.
• Never scream or shout at the child instead talk in a clam yet stern voice and explain to the child what he did was wrong and that he/ she needs to apologize for it.
• You should try and change the direction of his naughty behavior into some kind of game or activity that he might enjoy, then try and explain to him that you don’t want him to hurt any one or himself as it would be very sad. Try telling the child if he says sorry then you will play a game with him.
There are a lot of books as well as sites online that will give you information and tips to deal with troublesome toddlers
Submitted by P T on May 4, 2010 at 12:04
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