Cameron was an incredibly gentle baby. He never pulled hair or tried to hit anyone. However, I cannot say the same about my little firecracker, Reese. For whatever reason, this girl just loves to hit. Especially me. A lot of the time, she's not even doing it out of anger. She'll literally be sitting in my arms with a smile on her face as she just pulls her arm back & smacks me one!
I'm really not sure how to handle it since I never had to discipline Cam at such a young age. I've been grabbing her hand & telling her very firmly to be gentle as I demonstrate an appropriate way of touching my face. When she gets really out of hand, I tell her no & set her on the floor where she wails her head off.
I really have no idea why or where she gets this aggression from since we never ever hit our kids as a form of discipline. I also find she does this to other kids she feels are overstepping their boundaries. Just the other day, a little boy was getting too close in her book when she just hauled off & let him have it. If you restrain her arms, she tries to kick. I'm hoping this is just a phase she's going through since I don't exactly want to raise a bully. Obviously I want my kids to be able to stand up for themselves when need be, but I don't want Reese to think it's acceptable to hit whenever she's upset. I'm planning on looking into it, but I wasn't sure if anyone else had any experience with this? Is this normal behavior or should I be concerned & start looking into correctional facilities sooner rather than later?! And as sassy as she can be, she's equally sweet. I've never met a baby who gives better hugs than my little Reesey cakes!
Sounds like you are handling Reese's aggressive behavior perfectly. It's impossible to discipline a baby her age. All you can do is be consistent with telling her no and putting her down. It makes her unhappy but hopefully she'll get the point.
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