Tips for handling a 13 month old DCG who constantly pushes the faces of other babies around her own age? The “victim” baby can be quietly looking at a book or other object and DCG will go all the way across the room and push the other baby’s face as to distance him or her from the object she wants. Sometimes it’s accompanied by a shriek or some whining but often times, she just pushes the face and pulls on the item until it’s in her possession.

Currently, I remove her to a corner of my living room away from where the incident took place and tell her “that’s not nice”. She just gets up and happily walks away seeming totally unphased. I don’t feel like she is learning it’s an unacceptable behavior and it’s happened about seven times today alone.

Note: it doesn’t actually hurt the other children. They are also unphased but i don’t want it to progress any further.

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Time to use a very stern voice.

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Time to use your no-no voice, have her facing you with only a blank wall behind you while you talk to her so she isnt distracted and can focus on what you're telling her. Tell her it's not nice and it's a no-no. Then walk her over to the child and make her say sorry, even though the other kid is unphased by what she did. Once she repeats the behavior after you've done this, she needs to start losing toys. If she takes away a toy, you take it from her and put it in a special box as you explain that she can't play with it anymore today. (Give the other child a new toy immediately.) Once she loses enough toys, she'll think twice before doing it. Just went through this with my 16 mth old. Still not totally fixed but I've seen definite improvements.

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teacher voice!

"NO." We do NOT hurt our friends. Make a big show about comforting the hurt child.

Also, she should be within arms reach at all times/shadowed. Even if it isn't hurting the kids NOW, she's only getting bigger and COULD hurt someone.

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I agree with the stern voice. I purposely make my voice low and rumbly. It stops them in their tracks. No smile, no hint of a smile. Eyes focused on the offender. I don't have to use it often, so when I do, there's usually tears because it's unexpected.

With a young one, I would say, "No! We do not hurt our friends!" Then I would sit by them and say, "Nice touch." And I would show the offender a nice touch, usually a pat on the arm or back. I also use the Spanish word for "soft" because the dcks don't hear it outside of when I use it, so they know what I mean. I.E. They will hear "nice", "touch", and "soft" in other situations, but if I throw in a word that I only use for this situation, it seems to work easier and faster to curb a behavior. You could pick any language or make a word up.

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Oh yeah! I have been ON her the last two days! She’s very smart so she waits for the “right time”. It hasn’t happened once today.

Thanks for all the advice, ladies! I think we’re

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