Hitting

Can you keep 17 month olds from hitting? I'm reaching my wits end. Between the hitting, the crying, and the food throwing (at the beginning of the meal, not the end! He's pushing my buttons~) I'm about to lose it. Need advice please! Reprimands have not worked. THey simply do not care.

 

Can you keep 17 month olds from hitting? I'm reaching my wits end. Between the hitting, the crying, and the food throwing (at the beginning of the meal, not the end! He's pushing my buttons~) I'm about to lose it. Need advice please! Reprimands have not worked. THey simply do not care.

 

Mine did not do a lot of hitting, but the food throwing I can definitely relate too! It made me CRAZY! The solution here ended up being to put them in boosters at the table and take away the trays. Before that I would spend the entire mealtime reprimanding, taking food away, etc. You might try pulling them up to the table and eat with them. Maybe it will help! As for the hitting, I think the only thing you can do is stop it, tell them why it's bad and redirect them. YOu could try to start time outs at their age as well if you think they would understand. 14-17 months was just a rough stage here. At 18 months things improved greatly! Hopefully they will for you too

 

I would try time outs for the hitting. We don't deal with that often, but Hannah can be a pill at times and time outs are very effective. As for the food throwing, I agree with Melissa, put them in boosters and pull them up to the table. That really helped us immensely. Also, if you can, sit and join them eating at the table. While we are talking and interacting and eating, I find they are less likely to toss the food overboard.

 

If I put them in boosters, what do they eat on? Do I put food on the table or give a plate. I can TOTALLY see the plate being flung across the room.

 

Pull them up to the table and put the food on the table. Now this has got me thinking...
My girls are so much better at mealtimes when we go out to eat. Maybe it's because in restaurants, they are eating right at the table? I have The First Years feeding seats and they are up to the table, but they eat off their trays. Perhaps I will try this. I don't have a big problem with food throwing, it's sippy throwing here. Drives me nuts!

 

This would be tedious and time consuming, but I would just consistently remove them from one another every time they hit. I agree with the PP that things should improve soon. Once they can communicate better and understand better, there are more discipline techniques you can try and you will be able to reason with them a bit more. I found that everything was easier once this happened (around 18 months). Sorry I don't have anything more than that. Hang in there.

 

Hitting has subsided for us in the last couple of weeks, we had hair pulling also, it has subsided also. We just pull them away from each other and tell them they have to be nice and show them nice by lightly running their hand down the others arm.

For eating, we have the first years booster chairs and a couple of months ago we moved them up to the table and they are eating off of plates at the table, they eat with us. They were big throwers in the beginning, but now they've learned to tell us they are all done and we quickly take away their plates before they do end up on the floor. This is not to say we don't have a plate full of food on our floor now and then!

 

Mine rarely hit each other, they are always I mean always hitting and pinching me. I tap hands when it gets crazy (I know, bad mommy). If I say Ouch, they think it is funny! Don't have issues with throwing food on purpose, not yet anyways! Good luck, and give me a few months I am sure we will be there too!