How to stop hitting

[chickennuggets]

DS1 6yr has recently been hitting when he doesn't get his own way or is upset with mostly DS2. We have talked to him about not doing it, put him on naughty step, banning pc games etc but nothing seems to be getting through to him.

Just now DS2 sat on one of his toys and he lashed out and hit and I just lost it and hit him on the head as I told him off. I feel awful about it and although it wasn't hard it was a to me that I did it all . I guess I am at the end of my tether and feeling really down about it. How do I put a stop to all this?

This is very time consuming, but I like to think in my ideal world I would talk to him when he was calm & happy & ask what he was feeling that time when he hit out, and does he think it was a good way to deal with the problem, what might be a better way to express his feelings. Literally brainstorm about better ways to deal with feelings.

Then when you see he's wound up & prone to lash out at any moment, you can remind him of the things you agreed that would be better than hitting. Like shouting or jumping up and down or telling a joke.

He would still need some self-control to change his habits, but the fact you describe this as a new behaviour suggests he can find that self-control. I have one who hit chronically from 18months & it was a devil to improve (still have bad moments).

That sounds like agood plan, thanks for your advice
Yes it's uncharacteristic behaviour from him, yet they still go through phases and I want to try and nip it in the bud.
Good luck with your 18mth old