3 year old saying we've hurt her

[stinksworth]

I'm in desperate need of help please. 3 y/o DD keeps yelling out things like "ow mummy/daddy, you hurt me!", when we haven't. These are always occasions where she's acting up and we have had to touch her; for example, if she's let go of my hand near a road and I've taken back hold of her hand, when she's been told not to push her brother and has been (gently) moved away from him.

She has a great vocabulary and understanding so it's definitely not a case of not knowing what she's saying.

We're at our wits end and have literally no idea how to stop this. I'm genuinely concerned what people must think if/when they hear her. Love Does anyone have any advice please?

Anyone?

My daughter who is 3.8yr went through a phase of doing this, she doesn't say that anymore. It's hard to say it assume she was doing it for attention as it's so young for them to think like that. How old is your youngest? I found that she would do that whenever the situation involved her younger sister, almost a jealousy response.

Who knows, but as they say..this too shall pass.

Youngest is 9 months so yes, that part would fit with her being jealous. So it's a matter of waiting it out? Any ideas for responses please (particularly in public) other than "I'm not hurting you", which doesn't seem to work?

I strongly believe in empathy and understanding. We always responded with "oh can you tell me where it hurts?" , "how can I make it feel better?" 9/10 times she would mumble something and forget about it within seconds but she appreciated us understanding her.

Just ride it out, it's just a phase. And don't care what people think in public. Anyone would see that you haven't hurt her, kids say random things. Good luck.