Pushing kids

[Babykiki]

Hello mummies,
My daughter is 2.3 years old and just started nursery a few days ago. I've noticed that when I take her to the park after nursery she would push other children if they get close. She has never done that before and I just don't know how to react. The park playground is very busy and when I see other children approach I worry. On the one hand I want to let the interaction play out naturally; on the other I want to intervene to prevent her from pushing the other child. I've explained why it's not nice to push others, that they get hurt and so on, but we are trilingual at home and her speech and understanding are not quite there yet. I asked at childcare when I dropped her off earlier and they said she does it there as well. How should I react as a parent? What's the right course of action? She is an only child by the way and due to covid has had little interaction with kids her age up until recently.

Ask nursery how they handle it and do the same for consistency but I would think something like a firm no, brief explanation that pushing hurts and then redirect her elsewhere would be age appropriate.

I wouldn’t let the interaction play out naturally when that means another small child being pushed, that’s not fair on anyone.

I agree that you should talk to nursery so that you can use a consistent approach but really all you need to do is move your child away as soon as she’s pushed. Supervise her play very closely, and if you can be there to avoid any pushing by distraction or whatever, then you can give your dd lots of praise for playing nicely and doing the right thing.

If she doesn’t understand or follow a firm no when you can see she’s about to push, then you have to physically pick her up and move her away. Even if you can’t do it through words, you need to get the message across that pushing other children will result in her play being stopped, every single time. Eventually she will realise and stop doing it.

I have the general rule to let things play out. However, if she hurts another child, it's a firm 'No thankyou! We have kind hands!' and I get her to demonstrate on me. If she goes to hurt another child again, she's removed.