What do you tell your 8yr old about hitting?

[Toomanyworriedsonhere]

A friend of my DS recently whacked my DD on the arm with a folded up metal scooter. On discussing this with the Dad of the other boy I found we had different ideas about hitting.

He says he tells his DS that if you are hit you hit back. I tell my DCs to find a grown-up/walk away. What do you do?

The Dad would have been ok then - if your DD had wacked his son back really hard ?
What does he tell his DS about hitting people for no reason then ? ( like he did to your DD)

He told me he was really angry with his son!
I didn't think of her whacking him back - maybe we should make an exception to our rule for this kid or maybe my DCs should find the dad and whack him

I think the rule is definitely to walk away from a kid armed with a scooter!

Its a difficult one. When I was very young I always walked away when someone hit me and I tended to get bullied until one day I hit the bully back really hard and then he never hit me again. I did notice that kids who hit back did not seem to get picked on whilst those who walked away did !
It does depend on the nature of the child being hit. Some will think nothing of hitting back - and yet others find they just can't - so what they are told by a parent will just be ignored anyway.

I agree that it's tricky and I can see the Dad's position. I guess I would look at self-defence classes for DD at some point because she might need to protect herself in the future.

However, I think the other kid has blurred boundaries because of what he has been told.