What to do about...?

Question

What to do about 3 and a half year old who thinks hitting people is funny?

She will just go up to people and hit them when they are saying hi to her, or bye, or just talking to her. She does it to everybody. We try time out, but it doesnt work. After she hits somebody she starts calling them dumb and laughing at them. This puts me and my husband in a very bad situation, and we get very embarrased. What should I do?

Answer 1

Tell her you are going to take her best toy away if she doesnt stop hitting people , take them all away tell she stops. and let her no what you are doing, and when she stops hitting give them back one at a time..works with my boys.

Answer 2

Take away a favorite toy or item each time she does this behavior. Tell her she has to earn it back with good behavior, especially not hitting people. And punish her for using words like "dumb." She's seen and heard these things before and she's copying them so figure out where she learned them from. It's common for kids to hit at certain ages, but she had to learn the word "dumb" from somewhere and also the laughing at people, that's not common behavior for a child of that age. Good Luck.

Answer 3

i'm an "old school" mom - if time out and serious talks didn't work, it's time for a gentle spanmk on the bottom tolet her know that inappropriate behavior like hitting and name calling will not be acceptable. If she gets away with it now, sooner or later she's gonna run into a bigger kid who will smack the crap out of her.

Answer 4

Children learn from example. Try and figure out where she is getting this from TV, relatives, movies...Just keep repremanding her and stick with it. She will eventually stop when she realizes she gets in trouble EVERY time she does this action.

Answer 5

put her in time out! dont spank her because that shows her that hitting IS ok and thats what you want to punish her for