Hitting

Girl mine too! He’ll be 18 months next month. He tried to every now and then. We tell him no or just pop his hand. Telling him “that’s not nice, that’s mean” or “that hurt mommy/dada” seems to work with mine. He’s slowly getting out of it. He hasn’t in a while

Yup, me too around the same age with all three. If you're holding him, try putting him down immediately and turning away from him. I've also found that immediate time outs, although frustrating, after firmly saying something like "no, ouch that hurts mommy" has worked. You'll have to put him back repeatedly but eventually he'll get it.

Grab hands and Say calmly“I’m not going to let you hit me, if you need something to hit you can hit the pillow” then practice hitting pillow when child is calm. Helping him verbalize the emotion he is feeling helps. My 2 year old doesn’t hit anymore but says I hurt her feelings when I tell her no know or will say she is having a bad day 😂 don’t talk about it being a problem in front of him and don’t dramatize it at all. Made that mistake with my first.

Natural consequences. Say ouch and walk away. Doing this enough times should teach him that people don't want to be around someone that hits. But I also like the time in ideas over time outs. I don't like the idea of punishing, because kids do things because they are exploring and learning the world around them and trying things out. Time in and connection over time out. But I already do a lot of redirecting.

@Katie no is the beginning of teaching consent and boundaries! Teach your child that no is a complete sentence. And that if someone ever asks them if they want something or if they want to do something that they are uncomfortable with, that they should tell them no.

No isn't a bad thing that it's made out to be

@Katie I love this idea too!