Is this normal behaviour?
Show your support
This does sound like normal toddler behaviour at this age to me. They have very short attention spans still and are still learning how things work. Once they try to do something themselves they can get very frustrated if it doesn't work the first time because they're modeling behaviour, and for us, we do things right the first time (usually!). For the hitting, it's developmentally normal for toddlers to hit. They do it out of curiosity (wondering what your reaction will be, what happens when they hit) and frustration, normally. It's worth just calmly explaining to him that you don't hit and then try redirecting to something else. If he's throwing toys etc because he's frustrated you can say it's okay and we just try again, perhaps helping if it feels appropriate. The doll pushing looks normal to me. Like someone else said, it's probably because he's expecting it to do something. My toddler just says "I don't like it" with things like this!
I am no expert at all so please take my opinion with a pinch of salt. It seems a little bit rough, have you tried to discuss this with the GP or the health visitor?
@Joana I rang the health visitor today. They’re going to book him for an 18 month check where they assess speech, emotional development and behaviours so hopefully this will help a little!
Coming from a childcare setting profession myself, I personally would discourage this behaviour/way of play at home. Encouraging him kinds hand and showing him how to play with the baby other than hitting it as he may continue to do this and more to others 😬 if hes not told that hitting is wrong then he will just carry on unfortunately. I understand some children don’t like engagement and like to play independently (which is absolutely fine) but he may need more than you think to decrease his tantrums. I wouldn’t go down the root of ADHD yet as he’s extremely young. You mentioned about his speech? Do he has a dummy at all? This can make a impact on speech delay x
Yes, mine is like this too … so loving towards me and dad but is absolutely foul at times with his baby sister. He bit her quite hard last week and we’ve ended up with social services because of it 😬 he’s 19 months and is unintentionally aggressive with her… it’s so hard
@Jess he is taught at home not to hit, every time he does hit us or other people we do tell him off and remove him from the situation. Most of the time he doesn’t react and continues or he’ll laugh and carry on. The only way we can get him to stop is if we hold his hands so he can’t hit us and then he screams and tantrums it’s awful! He’s actually ok playing with other kids at nursery he just plays quite rough. He is definitely delayed with speech. It’s funny you mention the dummy actually!! We’ve removed it for the last week during the day so he only has it at night time now. We actually removed it bcos of the speech thing to see if it helps x
@Shelley aw that must be so hard for you!!! This is the concern I have about having more with the way he behaves tho. It scares me!! He hurts me and dad too he’ll grab your face or smack and punch it’s horrible and when you tell him off there’s either no reaction and he continues or he laughs x
@Georgia you’re welcome to message me lovely, I know how hard it is! It’s just come as a huge shock especially with my daughter being really really vulnerable from her heart condition and genetic condition… she has lots of professionals involved and one of them flagged the bite which has now led to (understandably) a social referral mainly to safeguard and make sure that I’ve got all the support I need xx
@Shelley I hope you’re ok!! My friends went through something really similar with their 4 year old and their 6 month old baby. They had a referral too due to a lump on babies head. Luckily it turned out to be something completely different but mum and dad were questioning as their eldest is quite rough xx
@Georgia oh that’s so good that your on it with his behaviour at home, I know how hard it can be! Ahh that’s so good! Fingers crossed his speech begins to progress now. You should notice a difference now that he doesn’t have it as much x
My son is the same age and is exactly the same!
Has he seen this type of behavior anywhere? At home? Siblings? TV?
He might be treating the doll like that because it isn't responding to him in any way. My boy does that with toys that are basically inert, but once we start making them talk and move he plays with them nicely.