My son is almost 18 months old and he is developing some negative behaviors. He started hitting and biting occasionally about a month ago and it's getting increasingly worse. I tried saying

Andrea - posted on 11/27/2008

My son is also 18 months old. He was a very small baby and was beat on all the time by his older cousins. Recently I have found that spending time with one cousin in particular is causing my son to have negative behaviors like hitting, pushing, taking toys and taking other childrens food/drinks. My biggest problem was the other parents would not do anything to stop their older and larger child from beating on him even if there was a real risk of him being hurt (which he has been many times). Could there be another child who is showing your son this behavior??? For now, when he hits, pushes or does anything we do not agree with we use the "we do not hit in this house line". Another thing I have been doing is if the behavior persists while we are at Grandmom's house or other family/friends we give him three chances, when they are up we pack up and go home. Which usually causes a huge melt down but he is learning that he cannot behave like that. We have also started using a time out chair, which seems to be helping. Hopefully this will help you, but I do agree with the sometimes boys will be boys...

Kelli - posted on 11/26/2008

A good thing to do is to hold his hands each time he does it. This way you don't reinforce the hitting by tapping his hands or making him more upset by telling him no. Just hold his hands and make eye contact with him. It lets him know that you understand he's upset but also helps to calm him down.

Miriam - posted on 11/26/2008

I agree with Tracie, every time he hits/bites tell him that the action is wrong and remove him from the situation, like taking him off of your lap as Tracie said. You have to be consistant though, don't let him get away with anything like that, even when the behavior starts to let up, keep on him for it. And praise praise praise his good behavior, make sure he isn't hitting/biting because it gets your attention.

Tracie - posted on 11/26/2008

I hate to tell you this, but boys tend to do this type of thing alot at that age. I have 2, a 6 and a 2 year old and they both went through that faise. Eventually they catch on that its wrong if you keep telling them in a stern voice and punishing them. Example: if he bites you while sitting in you lap, tell him no, that biting is wrong, and set him down by himself. Tell him he can't sit with you if he bites. He will cry (of course) .Give it a few minutes and say Ok you can sit here again but no biting.

Elishe - posted on 11/26/2008

I've also had some issues with my 18 month old - I've asked a lot of people how to discipline at this age and they said the best thing to do is to tell them that we don't hit/bite and try to distract them to do something else. I also make a huge deal when he does something nice like share his toys or listen when I ask him to sit (as opposed to stand/climb on a chair or the couch). I know it's frustrating and embarrassing, especially when you have to apologize to the other kid's mom! But I'm starting to see some results and he even cheers for himself now when he knows he's done something right.

Leesa - posted on 11/26/2008

Have you tried time out at all? I remember my DD1 doing that sort of thing and found time-out what a great tool. Still use it now actually. Good luck!