Smacky toddler

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Dd is 16 months old, and has all of a sudden become a violent little bean!!
She has begun smacking, kicking, pinching etc, and it's almost always in retaliation to being told off. She has never (and will never be) been smacked by me or DH as punishment, so I have no idea why all of her sudden that is her reaction.
For example, she picked up the iPad from the table yesterday and threw it onto the floor, so I told her no and picked the iPad up off the floor. Literally the second the word "no" left my lips, she smacked me in the face!! I said "no" to her using me as a climbing frame, moved her off me and sat her next to me on the sofa. She the flopped herself backwards in tantrum mode and proceeded to kick me repeatedly while screaming "No! No! No!"
She has never hit another child at play group or anything, just me, DH and her toys!
Is it just a frustration thing at not being allowed to do what she wants?

[LuchiMangsho]

Possibly. But I would say a short sharp no, remove her somewhere and sit with her till she calmed down. And say very firmly 'we do not hit'. And then show her 'gentle hands.'

[SuperHeroesForKids]

Yes it's frustration and testing boundaries.

Welcome to toddlerdom

Set boundaries and be consistent

[pointlessperson]

My 16 month old ds is exact same!!!
I have been doing as suggested above removing him from situation.
Have been trying to teach him about feelings ie u hit mummy mummy is sad

When he is giving big hugs saying thank you that makes mummy soo happy that you are being so kind and gentle

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Glad it's normal!
I've been going with "we don't smack" and removing her from the situation. I guess she'll get a bit more understanding as she gets older

[ElphabaTheGreen]

She'll grow out of it. DS2 (2yo) has been our resident thug for several months now. You can usually tell when he's gearing up for a whack so I'll try to grab a wrist then pretend to eat his hand so he starts to laugh, or high-five him several times as the hand comes flying in to stop him from getting to the strike to begin with, and to bring him down from whatever irrational toddler-rage has set him off. This is then followed by kisses and cuddles to model kind behaviour. DS1 (4yo) is getting to be an expert in this approach as well (fed up of cracks around the skull with toy cars, poor sausage).