Throwing

[SarahAJ]

My DS is 3 in a couple of weeks and in most ways is pretty well behaved. He is polite, sweet natured and funny.

At the moment he has a nasty habit of throwing stuff. There is no rhyme or reason to why he throws as he does it when he is frustrated, over excited, laughing, playing on his own and just about any other situation. It has culminated in him giving another child a massive bruise on the cheek for which he was put in his room and soundly chastised.

My responses have ranged from gently explaning why throwing things at people/for no reason iis naughty, to removing toys, the naughty step,, shouting at him and smacking his hand but he just won't stop.

I'm worried about him starting nursery part time in January because I really don't want him to hurt anyone.

I never had this trouble with my DD who is now 5.

this could be just a phase my oldest dd went through a stage of shouting at everyone when she was annoyed or frustrated after a while i stopped taking notice as the telling her off was not working she did stop it shortly after that

Have you heard about 'schemas'? This explains a bit more
This could be related to the trajectory schema.
Encourage him to throw things that he's allowed to throw (balls etc) and explain which things are not for throwing and which things are fine to throw.
It is certainly worth explaining that some things should not be thrown and how careful you must be when throwing anything if there are other people around. Just saying 'don't throw' might not help, as there are always some things which adults don't mind you throwing!

Yes to encouraging him to throw in an acceptable manner.

Throwing is a really important skill. It helps them to understand cause and effect, momentum, trajectories, etc and helps develop control over muscles which will help him with finer tasks like writing later on.

Give him a cardboard box and some newspaper to scrunch into balls, sponge balls, balloons, etc and let him explore the concept thoroughly that way.

What Spider said. My ds is 3 in 2 months and shows a distinct preference for the trajectory schema. We are now concentrating on providing a safe outlet for his energies which includes lots of physical play, redirecting his throwing energies to appropriate situations or objects. For example we have soft balls that he is allowed to throw in the house providing he tells us he is about to throw it. We explain that some things are for throwing, others are not. If he throws something at a person we explain that it can hurt them. We are also matching our toys and games to his preference. He currently loves train sets and things with movement. We are buying him a marble maze race for his birthday.