I love hearing from the readers of Not Just Cute. It helps me to understand your focus and your challenges as you work to support whole child developent in the children you love and teach. Unfortunately, I can’t answer every emailed question personally. If you have a question, please email it to questions{at}notjustcute{dot}com, with “Q&A” in the subject header. On the first Friday of each month, a selection of questions will be answered in the First Friday Q&A vlog. Some questions may also be worked in to individual posts. Thank you for reading Not Just Cute! ~Amanda
I like your advice about hitting last week. I am at a loss about my son’s hitting habits, however. When he gets excited about something (such as going to the park or playing a new game), he gets so jumpy, and he pushes and hits his little sister (he’s three; she’s 1.5). We’ve talked about staying away from other people when we are excited and doing other things like jumping up and down to keep to ourselves, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. This is especially frustrating because it takes a positive moment (yay, we are going to the park!) and turns it into a not-so-fun moment. Any ideas?
sorry…i will email this to you.
It takes time, Cathy. Perhaps, when you’re delivering exciting news, try getting right down to his level, and hold his hands. Then celebrate together in an appropriate way (jumping, high-fiving, etc) and then include him in the preparations to keep him busy. You may also need to implement some logical consequences. Plan a trip to the park and deliver the news as above. If he still hits his sister, you may have to empathetically tell him that you know he was excited about going to the park, and you were too, but because he’s hitting his sister you won’t be able to go. Point out again that hitting hurts and makes both his sister and you sad. Let him know that you don’t want people to hurt him or his sister. Then let him know you’ll try again later, or the next day if necessary, to see if he can show his excitement in one of the appropriate ways you’ve talked about. It takes time and consistency, but as long as you remain focused on teaching positively, he’ll get it down. Good Luck!
Just wanted to let you know I shared a link to your page on sensory play. Love your information. Thanks!
My little boy is about to turn 2, he’s not really talking much, he says single words so when he gets frustrated i find it difficult to find out what the problem is. He gets so frustrated that he bits his own hand and arms really hard that he leaves marks. I have tried getting him to show mr what he wants, but he doesn’t understand. I have made what I call a calm down spot where if he’s frustrated he can go and sit and calm down, but I think he fells it’s like a naughty spot, which I have never done, so he doesn’t want to go there? When we are out, he is an absolute nightmare if there are any kids there, he will hit, bite, pull hair and hurt them if the walk near him. The only place he his good with other kids is when he is in daycare. Im trying to find the cause of his behaviour, as i know these are all just symtoms of the real pronlem but I am at a loss as to how to help him. I tried to join your naught spot webinar the other day but I realised that as I am in Australia it would have been at 2am! Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.