Violent toddler

Hey. Desperately looking for advice please, from anyone who's gone through the same. I know this is just a stage and I've been told it's normal, but it feels like my little boy is the only one who acts like this. I never see another kids behave the way he does. He's an amazing little boy. He's 1yr7months old. And he hits alot. He hits when he's excited, angry, tired. I'm thinking it's because he can't communicate and gets frustrated (his speech is excellent though). He randomly goes up to other kids at playgroup and smacks them for no reason whatsoever. It's not like they've upset him, or he wants a toy they're playing with, he will just go and hit. He hits me and his dad alot. Pulls hair, slaps, kicks, screams. We are doing gentle parenting. He is soo smart and seems to have a understanding of alot, but he will not listen to "gentle hands". He's just full off energy. At groups, he runs around like a mad man, bounces into other kids and sends them flying, he never ever stops. So yeah, any advice on how to get through this? And what age your LO grew out of it, if you did go through it? Thanks for reading

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I truly wish I had advice for you however the only thing I can say You are not alone my almost 3-year-old is the same exact way and has been this way since he was about your son's age.

My 2.5 year old is the same and it is beyond frustrating. I feel like we’ve tried everything to try and calm him. Sorry you’re in the same boat. Sadly no advice to offer either

Thanks ladies. It is nice to hear others are going through the same ❤️ sometimes it feels like I'm the only one, I never see others act like this at playgroups. And all my friends have babies the same age and they don't act like this. It's so hard ❤️

Maybe you can incorporate some sensory stuff. He may be under responsive to physical touch which would explain why he’s always rough and running into things. Or it’s a stage. Either way it could help. When my son is bumping things I have him play “tackle:knock me down” -I sit on a rocket chair and hold a body pillow and he runs and tries to knock me over. He likes to jump on his play couch triangle and it’ll tip over and he loves it. I’ll let him do it over and over until he’s tired. After he’s more calm

Lots of kids have different sensory needs and it could be worth checking out. Also most toddlers have an excess of energy so anything to wear them out 🤣 You could look into vestibular or proprioceptive input for other ideas https://www.sp4kids.com/blog/zzzsleepzzz

There are tons of kids that act like that. It’s also a personality thing. Some kids are more active and physical and others are more tentative and like to sit back and observe. Don’t feel bad. Maybe those families just aren’t out. Some days I skip bc it’s so hard to manage my 17 month old as right now he’s hitting me nonstop!

I would get some books about what hands are for etc and keep reading them to him. I would also be very consistent, every time he does something aggressive I would call him up on it and explain it’s never ok to use our hands to hurt people etc. I would also model playing nicely with him. Don’t feel bad though as it is completely normal for them to do these things at this age but equally it’s a great age to start working on these things too like you are :)! X

@Molly I've tried to find books about kind hands and feelings, but all the ones I've found seem to be for around 3yrs+ - quite heavy with words and not as many pictures. Do you have any recommendations?x

@Julia thank you for your comments I will check this out - thank you ❤️

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