I wanted some advice on my 18 month old who keeps hitting other people. It started with just hitting parents, then grandparents and now she hits other children. My biggest issue with it is that she hits when not provoked. She will happily play and share toys with others, be kind, affectionate and happy then out of nowhere will hit or scratch the child. Sometimes she will go upto a child who is playing by themselves and hit them even though they haven't looked at her.
I've tried repeating gentle hands etc with her and always remove her from the situation. I've also tried being strict but that doesn't seem to invoke much of a response either. I also make her say sorry but I don't feel like I am achieving anything. If it was a certain situation that resulted in this behaviour, I would avoid it but there isn't. Something seems to snap inside her and make her lash out but I don't understand why it is at a child who hasn't provoked her.
Its really frustrating me now to the point where I am reluctant to take her out with other children incase she hurts them - I don't have tolerance for other children getting hurt when they are happily doing their own thing.
Has anyone else experienced similar and have advice on how to deal with it? I want to have a consistent approach but am really struggling to deal with this (Also, I am told she is an absolute angel at nursery and does nothing of the sort there)