How do I handle this? 18mo hitting big sister every 10 mins or so.

[MrsTriangle]

I reprimand him and get him to say sorry (which in his case is a gentle stroke on his sister's arm), which he does, but he finds the whole 'hitting and being told off thing' very amusing and he's hitting her liteerally every 5-10 minutes and it's driving me crazy. He knows he shouldn't, his sister complains loudly every time and I wonder if I should actually be ignoring it instead?

It's too frequent to deal with properly every time as I can't get anything done otherwise.

Grrrr

nooooo dont ignore it or he'll end up worse hitting her. Say NO firmly to him till he gets the idea what you actually meant as he's old enough now to know what is NO means. Does he have a playpen? where you can put him in for one minute for his "naughty spot".

1. say NO, thats naughty
2. naughty spot
3. After one minute, bring him out of the playpen or his cot, and get him to say sorry to your dd.

it does sounds harsh but it does work for me. good luck

I agree entirely - it's the frequency that is almost unmanageable!

He is happy to say sorry immediately but I guess telling him off without a naughty spot sit is just not enough of a reprimand?

Also, try to get his big sister to not react (if possible) My DS went through a phase of doing this to his big sister at about the same age. He loved the pathetic, whingy cry that she let out when he did it so he kept on. We told her to get up and walk away without a sound (as long as she wasn't crying in pain) and we got down to his level and said "No hurting" - nothing longer or more in depth as it would have gone straight over his head. After two or three times of doing this, if he was still trying, we'd say "No hurting" and lift him to a different room. He has grown out of it... sort of. He's into lobbing things now
I wouldn't bother too much on the 'sorry' bit. It's nice to hear sorry from someone who means it, but not someone who has been forced or who has just cottoned on to it as a way of getting out of being told off. You can master the sorry bit later when he actually understands that his actions have upset someone. You could always say out loud to your DD "I'm sorry DS has hurt you again, you must be getting so fed up... well done for coping so well" et etc (positive attention for her not him)

That's a really good idea Honeybunmum - it might make DD feeled empowered a bit too.