You’d think that after my son, Joshua, turned 3 that he would lose his “Terrible Twos” terrible behavior. But now he’s into the “Threenager” stage and it’s just as bad as the previous stage. Only this time, he can speak better (so he can also scream louder!). He has also resorted to hitting whenever he is displeased about something.
Oftentimes, he tends to hit his nanny and our house help. Maybe because he feels that he is far superior to them? I don’t know. But I already gave the “go signal” for them to correct him so he would learn to stop hitting in general. Sometimes when he starts to raise his hand to hit me, I stop him with a firm, “No! We don’t hit!” complete with a glare. He stops. So far he has refrained from hitting me and his dad.
One time in preschool, a classmate of his grabbed a book he was reading and they had an altercation. They hit each other in the face (not punches, more like slaps according to his teacher) and Joshua got hit in the eye. He had a black eye and a scratch on his cheek. Of course, he cried and he was immediately brought to the school clinic. This happened a day before his solo class picture was taken so I was worried that he would look like “Rocky” and not the handsome boy that he is. Good thing the scratch and black eye subsided in time for his picture, whew!
It was pretty traumatic for Joshua to be hit by his classmate because no one has ever hit him before. Days later, he would still wake up talking about how his classmate hit him because of a book. He would go into detail with his story and it was always the same version each time. So I guess that means he was really telling the truth.
Sometimes when he starts to hit, we would remind him about how painful it was when he got hit by his classmate. That would stop him. But I knew there had to be a better way to help him get over this stage of #hitting and biting.
So how do we handle this Hitting and Biting Stage? I found this article by Dr. Sears and found 14 Ways To Stop Hitting And Biting. These are all very practical and easy to follow. From finding out the reason behind the behavior to how to avoid it and punish it. We have to nip this in the bud because we don’t want our kids to grow up with this bad behavior and be labeled as bullies. In a nutshell, we as parents have to be on our toes and see this discipline through until our kids “get the message” and stop hitting and biting.
Growing teeth and hands often find their way into trouble. Toddlers often bite and hit with little regard for the consequences of their actions. Biting and hitting habits hurt and should be corrected, before serious harm is done to bodies and to relationships.
Source: Ask Dr.Sears