3 year olds and hitting

My DS will be 3 in a couple of weeks and within the last week he has started hitting me. I tell him we don't hit and that hitting hurts but he doesn't stop. I walk away also and completely withdraw attention from him but it hasn't reduced the number of instances. It seems to happen when he doesn't get his way/what he wants.

I don't understand what has happened to my easy-going, well-behaved DS. Honestly, the hitting really gets to me, emotionally. I literally have to hold back tears. My DH tells me not to take it personally but honestly, I have given up so much to care for my son the very best way possible that for him to hit, hurts.

I feel like he's really testing me lately, literally since last week. He's starting to scream now too. I guess we will go back to doing time outs which worked really well in the past. But, I just don't know how else to handle this behavior. Any suggestions?

Re: 3 year olds and hitting

Timeouts are what we do and it is instant. There is no warning. It seems to work for us. "You are going into timeout because you hit mommy. We dont hit mommy or anybody. It is not nice and someone can get hurt."

Hang in there

Re: 3 year olds and hitting

Going through the same exact thing with my 3 year old. He is hitting and pushing and punching

We do a time out after a warning, but maybe I need to stop giving a warning and just going straight to timeout.

You aren't alone

eta: I was doing some reading on "why" kids do this, and it said one possible reason is that they feel the need for more "physical" contact with you so this is their way of getting it. This article suggested giving more hugs and affection. I am going to try it. I figure it can't hurt, right?

Message edited 9/20/2012 7:59:01 PM.

3 year olds and hitting

whenever my DS screams, I do it right back and imitate him and he starts to laugh. The 1st time I did it was honestly out of frustration and he found it funny. Just like every other phase, this too shall pass!

Message edited 9/20/2012 8:08:15 PM.