I caught DS hitting DD today and it's really shaken me. I had gone to the kitchen to get her bottle and I heard her crying. For some reason I had a very bad feeling and decided to creep back towards the living room and see what was going on. I saw DS run over and hit DD in the chest quite hard then run and sit on the sofa. He was obviously going to pretend as if nothing had happened.
I was really shocked to see this behaviour as he seems to love DD most of the time. I've been preparing myself for something like this but now that it's actually happened I don't know how to handle it. I stayed very calm and sent DS to his room then I checked DD. She had two red marks on her chest and stomach and one on her face! I feel heartbroken at the thought that he might've been doing this for weeks and I didn't realise it.
After I calmed down and spoke to DH on the phone, I had a talk with DS and explained that we don't hit people. I tried to get some idea what he's feeling but he's only 3 and probably doesn't really understand how he feels anyway. I've been trying to give him more attention today since I think a lot of the problem is that he's feeling neglected. What else can I do? Should I punish him further for the hitting? Am I raising a little serial killer? Should I take DD to the doc just to make sure no damage has been done? I checked her over and she seems fine and content after her bottle. Could there be some kind of damage I couldn't detect like a cracked rib or something? Feeling so awful that this happened.