so, i have a problem.
pratt is hitting. like, seriously hitting me in the face. and clint too. and cookie and poppy. and nana and grandma teddy bear. pratt is hitting them too...not they are hitting me. ha.
he just looks at you and then "wham!" slaps you in the face. when you tell him "no!" he laughs. crap isn't funny. seriously.
to this point, i've thought it was just coincidence. that he didn't really know what he was doing and that it was mean.
WRONG.
tonight i was holding him and wouldn't put him down because he was trying to pull yoda's tail off and so i was moving him to the other side of the floor. when i wouldn't let him down, he looked at me, scowled and popped me in the face. INTENTIONALLY.
clint jumped all on him. sternly told him no. and we set him down. ignored it.
while i'm a believer in spanking (gasp, i'm sure), i'm not a believer in spanking or popping him on the hand and saying, "no. we don't hit." duh. (somewhere my mom just screamed, "hannah!!! did i not teach you anything!?")
so am i the only mom that is going through this? or do any of you have advice for me? what do i do? do i ignore it? do i hold his hands together for 30 seconds while saying "we don't hit"? is this a stage? or will he be in prison by the time he's 11.
seriously folks. seriously.
it's that bad. i'm losing sleep at night. i really am. i hate that he's become this mean little kid.
please help.
love, mother of the meanest kid in saline county.
About Me
- hannah
- i'm a girl who likes to write. not a girl that's necessarily good at writing. it's cathartic, i think. and boy do i need that from time to time. i married a wonderful man named clint in may of 2007. he is everything i am not. he is calm. he makes plans. he is organized. his truck is always clean. his clothes are hung by types of shirt/color/size/etc. i'm full of nervous energy. i'm spur of the moment. i can't ever find what i'm looking for. we live in my car...pretty much. i'm lucky if my clothes are within ten feet of my closet. God gave us a precious angel of a baby in september of 2008. his name is pratt allen. he is 2.5 years old.we have another little one on the way. his name is max wesley. and he is due may 19th. somehow i'll be the mother of two boys. craaaaa.zy. i spend my days cleaning house. picking worms and caterpillars out of the flower beds. cooking meals. shopping at target. washing clothes. playing on the floor. reading books. doing puzzles. traveling to sonic. and the library. and blogging. i hope you enjoy our blog. feel free to leave a comment. hopefully it's a nice one. i tend to wear my heart on my sleeve.
10 comments:
I'm sorry, but I am laughing SO HARD at that last line.
So, I sent that email to you before I even read this. That gives you an idea of what has worked for us. But most of all, DON'T worry too much about it. It is so normal. I can remember one day in particular when I cried to Josh about what it feels like to be hit in the face by your own kid all day long. So I feel ya.
I know Katie and Michael both probably hit when they were babies but seriously I don't even remember it and you know I never spanked them...or hit them. It's a stage and he'll get past it and you will too just being stern and telling him NO! He will probably hit someone too at the mother's day out thing and you'll be mortified but this too shall pass. You and Clint don't hit each other and he won't do it either! Try not to worry about it...know that's easier said than done.
I know this isn't funny....but, this is so funny! Hannah, can you please write a book? I would so buy it! :)
So um, we may need to rethink the whole "Pratt + Bellah 4evr" thing. Also, teething is a stage. Night waking, crawling, infancy; stages. Hitting is a test. He is learning his power/strength/coordination. He is learning cause/effect. He's learning to push your buttons. He's also awaiting your reaction. If you say "no" but are obviously hiding giggles (which may be long gone at this point) the he thinks it's funny and will continue. Holding his hands at his sides is a good idea, but only long enough to count -out loud- to ten. 30 seconds is an eternity to a toddler. Also, remember your positive reinforcement: "hands are for clapping" "let's be soft/gentle" (and hand-over-habd show him how to be soft on your beautiful face, how to gently pet the dog, and how to tickle dad's beard)
And if that doesn't work, go ahead and google a support group for Moms of Kids in Juvy.
Love,
The one who thinks she knows everything.
I agree with some of the other responses...hitting is just a stage and positive reinforcement is great.
My daughter was a hitter and it was embarrassing when she hit others(or hit us in public). We finally started doing little timeouts. I know what you are probably thinking...he is too young for timeouts. I thought that too with Tatum, but it helped. I got a little mat and when she would hit I would just pick her up and sit her on her mat. When I got her to her mat I would tell her that it wasn't nice to hit and our hands are for hugs(or whatever else you want to tell him hands are for). Then I would give a big hug and kisses and that was it.
Giving the hitting too much attention will only make the matter worse, so just be sure to not over react if possible.
Good luck with it all. Parenting is the hardest, yet most rewarding, task in life.
I have no advice beyond what's already been said - but it seems like a ton of the moms I know are dealing with the same thing all of a sudden.
You're so funny- I do hope you get some piece of mind.
Pratt you silly goose. Stop freaking hitting.
Time outs. That's what we do, right now. We believe in spanking too (you're right, gasp), anyway, spanking doesn't work in response to hitting and it doesn't work on a 2 yr old that knows that hitting is wrong.... he'll say "Daddy hit me", then I have to explain that Daddy did not hit him but gave him a spanking because he didn't mind daddy and he has to listen and do what daddy and mommy says. Anyway, it's a whole thing, you get the picture. But time outs are working, like I said, right now. And we started time outs early. The main thing is to stay as calm as possible and talk calmly to him, explain why he's in time out and what he has to do to get out of time out, etc. Then when you get him out remind him again not to do whatever it was and of course tell him you love him. Sometimes I have to leave the room or hide around the corner before he'll calm down, because inevitably he'll have a fit while in time out (or that's why he got there and it gets worse before he gets over it). But I do think it's a stage...they have to test EVERYTHING!!! It WILL get better!! Promise! :)
oh sweet hannah..no you are not the only one...david hits a lot and we have gotten on to him, but he still does it when he gets mad about something. I grab his hand and give him this "look" and he knows what he's doing is wrong. Boys boys!
haha i remember this stage and thinking the whole how can i spank her and then say don't hit. of course i did it a few times but it didn't seem to work so i started time outs. i even had a few in places like target, old navy. she eventually stopped hitting. it will pass. fun times!
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