Soft play drama! HELP

[mummy2128]

Hey just looking for some advice and peoples own experiences of similar situations. So my son is 2 years 2 months and has always been a bit pushy when it comes to other children/sharing etc I do what I can to explain and teach to him this isn't acceptable and not nice but obviously at his developmental age has no idea of empathy or the concept of sharing and personal space. I was at a soft play centre recently and I overheard a women complaining about a child (my child) I asked her if everything was ok and she explained her daughter had came to her upset and said my son had hit her (she was slightly older and more verbal) the mother explained she hadn't witnessed this but her daughter wouldn't make a fuss/lie. I approached my son I firmly told him we do not hit/ push and to play nicely etc and apologised to the mother. She was very mad but accepted the apology. Her older child (approx 4 years) kept following my son around the centre, maybe defending his little sister and my son hit out again this time I witnessed the incident. I was very embarrassed and again apologised but she was not very accepting. I completely get that my child hitting is wrong but the situation wasn't completely unprovoked i felt like I dealt with it appropriately but eventually left as I felt awful. He's not a malicious child he just gets frustrated. I no what a sweet loving boy he can be but to hear / see another mother looking at your child in disgust is horrible. I was very apologetic. Any others had similar experiences? Will he grow out of this?

Fortunately they grow out of this stage.

However I personally think hitting once child needs to be told not to do it again. Second time he hits you remove child straight away of course he's too young to understand the consequences but let's face it you can't let him stay there if he's whacking other kids, no fun for either of you.

Of course this only really works if you just have one child with you.

I really wouldn’t get upset about it: and you will probably find in a few years it’s you sat moaning in a soft play centre about someone else’s “nasty” child (or whatever word people use to refer to normal child development stages ).

You did the right thing by leaving. She sounds a little dramatic: a little girl very intentionally (and knowing it was wrong) pushed my tiny son who was half her age and size off the top of a toddler slide the other week. I didn’t get angry at the mum, I just told the little girl it was mean to push other children and that I would expect she should behave better and set the younger children a better example (she was 4). I then removed my child beings as her mum didn’t give a damn. But still, I didn’t get angry at anyone, it’s soft play and no one was hurt (my son cried but he cries if I stop him eating cat food at the moment so hey ho )