3 year old hitting / kicking / biting - help please :(

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DS has just turned 3. He generally a pretty good kid, rarely throws a tantrum and usually does what we ask him to. For the last couple of weeks however, he has started kicking, biting and hitting us, usually when he is upset about something but sometimes for no apparent reason.

He did it again at bed time last night, so I told him he wasn't watching Milkshake in the morning. This morning, no Milkshake, so he has hit me again three times. He is fairly bright and his language skills are really good, so I know he understands me when I tell him it's not nice and it hurts. We've tried talking to him, time out, taking a toy away, I have no idea how to stop him doing it. Sometimes he seems to think it's funny!

Please tell me this is a phase how do I get through to him that it isn't ok??

Pick one method of discipline (I'd go with time out) and stick to it religiously. The Supernanny naughty step routine is excellent, but you do have to do it properly.

You have to do and say the exact same thing every time, and stick with it - it might take a few weeks before you see results. Continue talking to him about being kind and gentle and not hurting people, but make the consequences of bad behaviour an absolute steel trap.

Be consistently firm. You are the adult and u make the rules. Firm voice "you will not hit me. Its not allowed" with a serious face whilst making eye contact. Block and hold his hands down if he tries to hit you whilst u are talking. I would do time out. Cause its instant and doesn't drag on all day. Time out doesn't finish until u get a decent apology.

My DD is like this; I find that immediate consequences work although are tricky at bedtime. Ive been making a fuss of the fact that it makes me sad as I want DD to learn empathy and stop doing it because it’s makes me sad rather than just to avoid punishment:

Thank you for your replies, I will definitely try to keep it consistent and concentrate on not making people sad. I just hope he stops before he starts nursery in September!