Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I'm writing here in the hopes that maybe someone has some suggestions that we are not aware of.
My son turned 2 in November. He has been in the same daycare with the same 5 kids for a year. They are all between the ages of 2-4. He loves daycare--and our provider reports that for the most part, he is a good kid, sleeps well, plays well, participates in circle time, etc.
However--when he gets frustrated, or just out of nowhere, he hits and scratches other kids--as well as mom and dad. We put him in time out, and ask for an apology and he does it, but we are always being sent home with a note from daycare that he is hitting and scratching. She does timeouts there, too.
I asked our provider if she thought he hit/scratched more than the average 2 year old, and she thought he did. She said he was more aggressive in this manner than other 2 year olds, but 2 year olds were impulsive, and this was how he dealt with it.
Does anyone have any suggestions on how we can nip this in the bud sooner than later? He is an only child, so he's not getting this from home, and I've seen him be the first to do it at daycare, so he's not always reacting to someone else.
I am watching a 1.5 year old who is the sweetest little guy. He can get a little rough though. A couple months ago, he went through a biting stage and he actually bit two of the other children who are here...both older than him (he is the youngest here). I put him in time out right away and made a show of taking care of the injured child. He hates time out. After that, I kept a close eye on him and would "catch" him before he would actually get his mouth on another child (usually seemed to happen during a "dispute" over a toy). I would remind him not to put his mouth on his friend and he would stop. Mom and Dad were also reading a book to him about biting to reinforce no biting at home (he's an only child so far, too
). So, it seems to have worked and he seems to be over biting. Now he has moved on to hitting
(usually also over a dispute about a toy). So, we are doing the same things. Mom is going to look for a book about hitting to reinforce the rule at home and I put him in time out when he hits and console the injured child. Now I am watching for the warning sign that he is about to hit, and I try to catch him before he does it so I can "remind" him to be nice to his friend. HTH!