If only she was always that sweet...but lately it feels like we have to walk on eggshells around LB. She has some major mood swings. One minute she's fine, the next she's throwing a tantrum screaming "No!" and hitting anything in arms reach.
There used to be a reason for her tantrums. She was either thirsty, we told her no more water, or she needed more attention that what I was giving. I can understand being upset by any of those circumstances and thus throwing a tantrum. I can even understand that she may not be able to communicate her wants and needs when she needs to most and that makes her very frustrated.
What I don't understand is this incessant need to HIT everything including me, daddy, Layla (our dog) and most importantly and heartbreakingly, herself. Yes, she hits herself [hard] in the face! We feel like we've tried everything including but not limited to:
Ignoring it, Calmly talking to her, Time out, Holding her, Yelling, Sometimes screaming (seriously, I can only take so much!) and Giving in to what she wants.
It seems like it's getting worse. Instead of a tantrum with hitting and screaming every other day, now it's multiple times a day. Sometimes there's no reason for it, or if there is, it's such a tiny problem that we often over look it. We understand she's about 2 years old and trying to exert her independence but she needs to find a healthier way to do it!
In the mean time we are going to go back to trying time out. Supposedly you're to do 1 minute for each year of life. 2 minutes in time out for hitting....yikes. I can't even get her to sit in time out for 2 seconds! But we need to break this habit before someone gets hurt, more than just emotionally. We're going to designate a "naughty corner" and place Lily there for at least 1 minute (to start with) and ignore her while she's sitting there crying and screaming. And if she gets up we're going to put her right back and restart the timer. Of course we'll also explain why this is happening "hitting is not nice" yadda yadda. We'll see how this goes. I can't think of anything more effective but I just hope she understands and can put two and two together (I hit, I get time out and mommy ignores me) Fingers crossed!
Yeah, I think this is just toddler behavior because Cooper is acting the EXACT same way. We just started doing time outs again, too...
ReplyDeleteSo far what I've found that works is to say "Cooper don't (fill in whatever undesired behavior) again or you're going in time out". I have both of his hands in mine and have him look at me. If he does it again, it's immediate time out for 2 minutes. Some time it works, sometimes not, lol...