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Child Behavior (Expert Forum)
My twoyear old son is violent towards himself and others around him
Answered by
Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D. - Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Family Therapy, Crisis Intervention
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
This forum is for questions and support regarding child behavior issues such: Child Discipline (behavior management), Normal Child Development, Parent-Child Communications, Social Development
My twoyear old son is violent towards himself and others around him
by raerae272002, Nov 21, 2002 12:00AM
My two year old son has very violent temper tantrums when ever told no or corrected for repetitive misbehavior. My son throws his head into the floor, myself, and other adults in our house hold. He bites himself, screams ect. He seems to act as if hurting himself or "mommy"(I am the one he seems to direct his anger at more than any one other than himself)is the only way to make his anger disapate. Some days are worse than others.I am looking for ideas on curbing this behavior. I have tried ignoring the tantrums, spanking, timeout restraining him ss he is unable to hurt himself or others until he "calms down" then tell him we love him but we cant do such and such including hurting himself and others. any ideas for behavioral intervention would be greatly appreciated.
Doctor's Answer
by Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D., Nov 22, 2002 12:00AM
, Nov 22, 2002 12:00AM
The single best approach to tantrum behavior is to ignnore it entirely. The only exception to this occurs when children are striking someone or destroying property. When this occurs, it is necessary to restrain the child until he is calm, and then implement a period of time out in a chair (5 minutes is sufficient) once the child is calm. At the conslusion of the time out, there is no need to hug the child or give assurances of love; in fact, this may do more harm than good. The time out is instituted not for the tantrum per se, but because of the aggressive behavior.
