Originally Posted by Unregistered:
I don't understand. If a child takes a toy from another child, but neither child hits, you do nothing? What if the taker is always doing that or always doing it to certain child(ren)?
Years ago, I had a parent term over this. I got her daughter, because supposedly she was being hit and bit in her old daycare (by the kids) for no reason. Her daughter was 2 and just always wanted her way. There was a girl who funny enough had the same birthday. I had the other little girl longer and she was just very meek. New girl would always take her things. The first few time shocked me. Once I started giving the toys back, the new girl would hit, kick, or bite the other girl. After the behavior wouldn't stop, I told the mom what was going on and that I suspect that was why she was getting hurt at her old daycare. I also had a plan to stop the behavior worked out if the mom agreed to it, but she never came back.
RIE is an educational philosophy, and a good one. However, in this situation, modeling is going to be more developmentally appropriate than talking about what the child is doing.
Young toddlers can't process complex adult sentences well. When giving directions to really young toddlers, it's pretty important that your directions be short and sweet.
The other thing to remember is that little ones typically don't understand negative statements. When you say "no hitting" the child may only hear "hit." It's far more effective to just say "soft hands" every single time. Then practice soft hands with the little one and redirect. Toddlers need repetition, so you will be doing this a lot before it sinks in.