About Us

Monday, July 14, 2008

dealing with tempers.....

ok, I need to really get out the books for coping with a childs temper. Is it normal for a 9 month old to have a temper so strong? Even my sister (her full time babysitter) said she is really strong headed when it comes to showing her temper. She tends to hit back at me if I tell her no. Such as.... tonight she was sitting in the kitchen sink and playing with the water. I told her to not play with the handle so that she does not turn it to HOT water. I know, she does not really understand that yet, but I know she knows the word NO. I said Julia, no, don't touch the handle. She immediately pushed my hand aside each time and then slapped me with her hand. Intentional slap too! How do I curtail this slapping? I know she will go through stages of different levels of her temper, but how do I get the message of no through to her without her hitting back? She slapped my niece (who my sister also babysits full time) the other day while they were both in the kiddie pool. Julia wanted the water hose to herself and apparently slapped my niece with her open hand when my niece tried to reach for the hose too. Bahahahaha

I have to laugh at this, but her temper is so strong. Any suggestions?

2 comments:

Michelle said...

Oh you have a strong headed girl...much like mine :) I don't remember how old MAM was when she started with the slapping--but somewhere around Julia's age I would guess. I always acted like it hurt, and would then make her do a gentle touch, and say, "show mama gentle". It was around 9 months, I think, that we started having diaper change smackdown time too--no smacking, but I would have to hold her down for a diaper change and she would start thrashing. The best cure I found was to look away/not engage her in ANYWAY for about 30 seconds. Not having my attention really bothered her--and calmed her down a touch. Her first time-out experience of sorts. The biggest thing, I think, is to be consistent! Good Luck!!
(and thanks for commenting--I appreciate your viewpoint!!)

Anonymous said...

Becca did that with me. She would pull the dirt out of my plants and I would smack her hand and tell her no. She started smacking my hand whenever she was unhappy with me. I had to stop with the little hand smacking. Which wasn't hard, didn't turn her hand red and didn't even make any noise. I was just trying to get her attention. I can't remember what it was that I did start doing, because that is too early for time-out. But once smacking was removed from the house Becca stopped.