sibling rivalry - how do I stop her walloping her brother?

[allthetwinklystars]

My DD (3yo) grabs her brother (1yo), pushes him over, a good few times a day. Sometimes she does it when I'm distracted (washing up say), sometimes when we're all playing beautifully. I know she's still dealing with having to share her mummy and her toys, but it's driving me up the wall. I try to pre-empt it but it can happen so quickly. I always say no, she gets time out or the toy is taken away (depending on the situation) and I give him lots of cuddles so all the attention is not on her. I try to be calm and tell her I don't like the behaviour, but it's wearing me down.

So is there anything else I can do?

We had this briefly, same ages as your two.

When DS hit DD i would take DD and make a big fuss of her, completely ignoring DS. He wanted the attention and wasn't bothered that it was bad, instead of punishing the bad i started rewarding the good, when he played nicely with her or shared a toy i would make a big fuss of him.

He soon got it, we do still have occassions where he'll go for her especially now shes more mobile, but its few and far between.

Thank you Smallships. I have been trying this but not as often as I should. I will try to go whole-heartedly down thus route and get my DH and DM on board.