Aggressive playing

[Fueledwithfairydustandgin]

Just wondering what people's thoughts are. My 2 yo DS has started playing quite rough. Never with people but if for example we are playing dinosaurs his dinosaur will shout lots and crash into/jump on my dinosaur. I don't know whether to accept it as just playing or if it's something to discourage?

Absolutely normal!

Utterly normal.

So what do you do?

Make your dino say "Ouch! Oh no! he's hurt!"

Or make your dino fight back.

It doesn't really matter :)

I tried the first option and he either thinks it's hysterical or he comforts the dinosaur and makes it better then wallops it again bloody ruffian!! Just wanted to ask because a few people have been saying how rough he is

Completely normal but definitely worth introducing ideas about being kind as well! Both DD & DS would do rough play at that age but also be really sweet and kind when looking after a baby doll or a teddy.

Well if you like you could redirect - but I do think crashing and fighting is pretty appropriate with dinosaurs. But some people find that an approach like "XX is not for hitting/throwing. Drums are for hitting, let's play with the drum. Balls are for throwing, let's find the ball." helps. And it does help if they are doing something actually inappropriate. I don't think it necessarily helps them to not be rough as it can be quite fun to bang and crash things and it's quite normal for them to be experimenting at this age. It will get worse when he goes to nursery if he doesn't already. So you can try and gently discourage if you like but it is a pretty typical phase. I don't think I would be telling him off (etc) about it unless he's hurting people or damaging things but you can try to influence or make him think about things by the way you respond in play.

Thanks very much I think it sounds like what I'm doing is ok ( the odd time it's got too rough I've just said that if that dinosaur isn't going to be kind he might have to stop playing until he can be kind) have never told him off and we do lots of playing doctors, feeding animals/dinosaurs. He is rough with our dogs which I am trying really hard to work on. Fine with people though.