Help! My toddler won’t stop attacking me?!

[KO2018]

My lovely 20month old just is suddenly scratching my face, pushing me,pulling my hair. She is attacking me!

She just has this big grin on her face the whole time, she thinks it’s a great laugh…

I am telling her No, stop, use kind hands. Got her to say sorry, told her she made me sad - she’s saying “no pushing” and “mummy sad” so she understands. But is still doing it!

Its like she knows but isn’t listening. The more I talk about pushing and shoving, the more she does it. Should I try and ignore??

What can I do? We are very gentle parents I feel like we do a good job of listening to her, I don’t know where this has come from except maybe Disney films with fighting in them?

Any advice gratefully received. No meanies please :( this is rather upsetting, I just want to help her understand it’s wrong.

She is only 20 months. It's not that she isn't listening. You say that she understands as she keeps saying "mummy sad" but she is just repeating what you have said.

I think you just need to relax and ignore it, distract here every time she tries to do it. She scratches you just get up and say oh let's read a book or play whatever she likes playing. You think she's bigger and understands because she is no longer a baby but honestly toddlers are a long way off understanding emotions apart from their own.

Good luck and keep calm it does get easier 😊

Thank you @NoKnit this is really good advice and makes a lot of sense to me now you say it