Discipline for a 2.5 year old

[Namey32]

What approach to discipline do you take with your 2.5 year olds please?

Mine does not have a lot of speech - plenty of words, but not a lot of linking together yet. He understands a lot though.

He's starting to do stuff I've told him not to do - then looking at me grinning, waiting for a reaction.

I've not wanted to do the "naughty step". My approach so far has been a firm "no, we don't hit (for example), that's not kind and you'll make mummy sad". But it's falling on deaf ears. Where am I going wrong?

I want to nip poor behaviour in the bud before it becomes a bigger issue.

Thanks!

Hey when my son was little i decorated a small chair and called it the time out chair for him to calm down. I always counted up until 3 and if he didn't listen he would go on the chair for a couple of minutes, was a bit difficult at first but got easier. Hes now 12 and i still don't make it to 3 😂 good luck 😁

I have a 2.5 year old and similar situation. Goes through phases of looking for naughty things to do or just me saying a simple no provokes a hitting response. I tried ignoring it at first etc but he still continued to hit.
You can either remove yourself from the situation so walk into another room as long as he will be safe in the room he is in. We also bought a rug for his bedroom and started to be consistent with putting him in there to sit down and have some time out only for 2 mins. He first gets a warning but if he repeats the behaviour again straight away or his behaviour is getting out of hand we send him to the spot for time out. Sometimes now we even say I think you need to calm down would you like some time out and he agrees and will take himself off to his room and sit down. For us it’s giving him a way of just venting his frustration- sometimes he just lays there quietly but other times he screams for the 2 mins but in general it works for us. I know it’s not for everyone but it just helps take the pressure out of the situation as we were finding ignoring it or just keep telling him no wasn’t doing anything and it was therefore stressing both us and my son out.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.