15mo hitting DP and I, just so he can say sorry

[lukeiamyourmother]

When my 15mo DS gets tired or excited, he hits me/DP and laughs, or throws things on the floor laughing, and when I say no or dont do that, he 'says sorry' to me/his daddy (as we are the only ones he hits) by laying his head down on us and patting us better.

If he sometimes accidentally hurts his friends (he knocked a friends child over by giving her a cuddle and she cried) or they cry because they don't want to share or he knocks DP's glasses off or what not, he gets very upset and will immediately go to the person and do the same 'sorry' action. The difference is that he will not do it again in that situation. But with the tired behaviour he seems to only do it so that he can say 'sorry' to us as hes doing it again within 5 minutes.

I could of course illuminate this by not letting him get over tired but we don't live in a perfect world. And is this even normal? What do people suggest I do to help?

Hmmm, I would suggest to try telling him when he does this "It's nice that you said sorry, but I'm still sad that you hit me. That wasn't nice." However he's unlikely to understand this really at 15 months. You could say it anyway and hope he understands more than you think...?

I wonder if perhaps it is just usual overtired behaviour which he immediately regrets and is showing you that he regrets it, rather than wanting to say sorry. How do you react to the "sorry"? Is it a lot of praise, thank you for saying sorry, that was kind, etc? Perhaps try reacting more neutrally and just saying "That's okay. Let's try not to hit, okay?"

If you can see he's tired - can you ask him to come and cuddle you and make your 'poorly' knee/arm/whatever better by patting it? I know it sounds a bit barking, but it might just work.

I pat him back and stroke his hair, I never say 'good boy' or give any praise. Also I often stroke his hair so its not like he gets any special treatment by doing it.

Its almost like he forgets he's done it and just does it again. He finds it hilarious. Maybe it is just that, that he forgets because he's overtired?

That sounds likely to me.