What do say to your child if they are hit by another child?

[Nbg]

Been to playgroup today and just watching the children, some of them were hitting out at other children, snatching etc.
DD got a bit of wallop on the head but tbh I don't really make that big a deal out of it as IMO thats what kids do a that age and eventually they grow out of it.

But it got me thinking

When dh was younger he remembers one particular time where he was being bullied at school (about 5/6/7yr old). He had gone home crying and his dad told him not to be so soft and hit him back. When he asked his dad how, he told him with anything, a chair if he needed. So the next day thats exactly what he did and when asked by his headteacher why did he hit this boy with a chair his reply was that his dad told him too!

I'm not one for give as good as you get when it comes to this sort of thing but just interested about what other parents do in this situation?

Do you tell your kids to walk away or do you tell them to hit back?

As a teacher I would definitly have always said walk away, tell teacher or dinner lady etc etc. However since becoming a parent I'm inclined to think a bit differently. Trouble is if they hit back they will get into trouble, but if some little tyke was hitting my son and picking on him I don't know what I would advise him to do. Probably thump him back!

Oh dear - it's a tricky one all right.

When dd (aged 6) said that a boy at school was hitting her, I did all the "tell a teacher/dinner lady" thing. She came home upset saying they had said to stay away from him, which she tried but he kept on chasing her so I told her if he did it again and a teacher/dinner lady did not tell him off to whack him back but harder (for my own satisfaction) and if he did it again then Mummy would have something to say about it. Good job I don't like the boy, I would love to have a reason to tell him off, litte yob!!!!

On a serious note though it is difficult because you don't want your child to go around hitting everybody but on the same hand you don't want them to be a wimp!