My Son Has a Hitting Problem at the Age 15 Months

I am going through the same thing with my son. He started when he was about 15 months old, got better on his own, and now at almost 20 months old is at it again. I'm sure it is just because of his lack of verbal communication (i.e. "that bother's me please stop"), so he hits. We have been trying a few things and the stuff that really works is first telling him no. If he does it again within a few seconds we grab his hand and tell him that it is not nice to hit people and stop (firmly of course), if he does it a third time he goes to time out (which consists of sitting in his crib for anywhere from 1-5 minutes depending on how angry he was when he hit). It is amazing how even just a minute by himself in his crib makes him think about things. Without fail, he is calm and controlled when picked back up. Good luck...I know it's a challenging thing! :)

J.,
I had the same problem with my son when he was around that age and a friend of mine with a child around the same age showed me a trick. When your son hits, you take his hand and gently stroke your arm or the person that he hit and say "nice touch". After about a week, they get it. My son was a little tougher case, so it took about 3 weeks. This teaches them the proper way to handle people.

My son also experienced this issue again around the age of 2 1/2 along with his other classmates. At this age, he could talk so his daycare teacher would constantly say "use your words, not your hands". It seems silly, but helping them to express themselves removes the need to lash out at others.

I would hold his hands still, get down to his level, look him in the eye and tell him firmly that "We don't HIT." I would not tap his hands or hit him back, as it will probably just escalate the problem. If he continues after that, try a time-out or take a toy away for awhile. Good luck.

Hi J.,
Keep in mind negative behaviors often are caused by lack of language ability. If you can't communicate verbally what you think (at 15months you think A LOT) you will find other ways to make your point. Teach him some sign language to assist with getting his point across. Validating his anger is also important. Use words to describe how he feels.
Be very careful of your reaction. If you have a great big reaction to the hitting, chn think WOW look what I made happen (mo/fa getting loud, worked up, reactive)...let me see if I can do it again. At 15months, all attention is good attention.
If you hit to reprimand for hitting, it could sends a mixed message. Confusing for a ch still trying to figure out boundaries. BTW, at 15months, chn have no concept of "why" so don't bother trying to reason with them.
If he hits to get attention (as in he isn't mad but smiling as he comes up and smacks you). Deny the attention and hitting may looses its appeal.
I really like what the previous post recommends. Take his hand, eye contact and tell him like it is. Above all else, BE CONSISTENT! He won't understand sometimes being told no, sometimes being physically disciplined, sometimes nothing???
Good luck!

I was just reading a book on age appropriate 'discipline' (correction, direction, etc). And up to about age 3, I think, children don't understand when you say NOT to do something.

The example was that if your son is pulling a girl's hair, by saying "Don't pull her hair.", the son will just hear one or two words, notice he got attention, and only learn the attention side.

Instead, they said, to immediately (timing is key), walk over to your son, take his hand and gently touch the girl's head, saying "gentle, niiiiice, gentle niiice" and hug your son.

Maybe that will help your circumstance??
Good luck :D