My Son is Hitting!

[jenniferstell]

My daughter never, ever hit people. But my step-dad came up with a game that involves hitting Papaw and now my son hits everybody. I'm not real sure if I want to treat the problem with spanking.....hitting him to teach him not to hit? But we've tried time outs and sit in the corners, and he's always real cutely sorry, but the problem persists. Any advice?

 

[andiesmama]

First of all, I'd stop that hitting game with his grandfather! lol

Just be consistent....I agree that you shouldn't teach him not to hit by spanking...simply removing him from the situation. If he's at a friend's house/playground/whatever, if he hits, then you go home. If he's home playing, he goes to his room or someplace that's no fun.

It might not be working right now, right away, but being consistent, and not making that huge a deal out of it...saying, "You know that's not something we do in this family." and then proceed with the time-out or whatever.

It's a challenge, that's for sure...but this too shall pass, eventually!

 

[Picture.Of.Obedience]

First of all, I'd stop that hitting game with his grandfather! lol

Just be consistent....I agree that you shouldn't teach him not to hit by spanking...simply removing him from the situation. If he's at a friend's house/playground/whatever, if he hits, then you go home. If he's home playing, he goes to his room or someplace that's no fun.

It might not be working right now, right away, but being consistent, and not making that huge a deal out of it...saying, "You know that's not something we do in this family." and then proceed with the time-out or whatever.

It's a challenge, that's for sure...but this too shall pass, eventually!

i havent delt with it yet,,,but i agree, consistentsy is the key i think

 

[bliz]

Get Papaw to help. Have him explain that what was fun in the game is not fun in real life. Watch and see, when not playing the game, Pawpa never hits anyone, and neither should he. Papaw is going to set up a chart and very single day that he can go without hitting her gets a gold star and when he has 5 in a week (or whatever you decide - maybe multiple chances a day - morning, afternoon and evening...) he gets a special treat with Pawpa.

 

[Leanna]

He's using it for attention and he's getting attention from it so the problem persists. bliz is right get the grandparent's help. Actually I think that treating hitting with hitting makes a lot of sense in one way.... you can show him that hitting hurts. Maybe he doesn't realize! When he hits you, could you smack his hand and explain that hitting hurts you just like hitting others hurts them? But I just have a baby so that's all I have in the way of ideas....

 

[jenniferstell]

Great ideas - I'll give it all a try. The challenge here is that I work full-time, so at the moment, he's at my sister-in-law's house all day. I think that may also be part of the problem. He thinks he can get away with it. He never hit anyone at his daycare, and he'll be starting back there again in a couple of weeks. I just want to stop this before it becomes a huge issue and he takes it to his friends in daycare.

 

[jenniferstell]

Just thought I'd give a little update here!

I had my stepdad talk to my son about his hitting game. He made it very clear that that game was over and it's not nice to hit other people. My son listened very closely and I'm happy to report that he has not hit anyone all week long! YAY! He's such a smart little guy!

 

[Katydid]

GOOD!! I'm glad that Pawpaw was willing to help. Young kids don't always understand when a game is over. So it so important that this is made clear. I wouldn't have spanked for that either simply because he would not understand WHY he was being punished for playing a game.