3 year old hitting, how to nip in bud?!

[Maddie2019]

My 3 year old little boy has recently starting hitting this week. He goes to nursery 4 days a week so I think he may of picked it up from here.

Every time he gets frustrated and mad he lashes out at me, he’s always been so good and I have no idea how to deal with this!

My partner shouts which seems to work, my little boy would never hit him, and listens when my partner tells him to stop.

I have tried the talking to him, asking him what’s wrong, I’ve tried explaining how it hurts me, I’ve also tried the shouting method but none of it works. I will also ask him to apologise and he point blank refuses.

This is still new behaviour but I want to find a method to nip this behaviour in the bud as soon as possible. I don’t want to have to rely on my partner for the discipline.

[AladdinMum]

The general advice would be to hold his hand say a firm 'no when his tries to hit; and try to explain that it hurts mummy (while using a sad voice). Not sure how effective your partner shouting at him will be long term, it currently works and he would never hit him only because he is afraid of him - that won't last forever. He might actually start learning how effective (in a negative way) shouting is in order to control other peoples actions and start applying similar techniques towards his peers at nursery. At this age, toddlers will very quickly learn what is effective and what it is not, regardless of whether it's morally wrong or not.

[Maddie2019]

Bump