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Child Behavior  (Expert Forum)
 | 
3 year old son hits himself
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

3 year old son hits himself

by awindes2005, Dec 08, 2008 12:20PM
The past month my three year old son has started hitting himself. When i ask him why hes doing this he replies "I like it". Ive tried telling him that he shouldnt hit himself that hes going to hurt himself, but he dosent care. He is not angry or frustrated when he dose this it just comes out of nowhere. We have also tried ignoing it thinking maybe he was just wanting the attention, but he dose it even if he thinks were not looking.

by Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D., Dec 09, 2008 05:38AM
Your approach of ignoring the behavior is wise; continue with this a while longer (e.g., two weeks). If the behavior continues, place your son in time out when he hits himself. Now, I say this with the assumption that he is developing in a normal way. Is that a correct assumption?
Member Comments (3)

by awindes2005, Dec 09, 2008 11:33AM
Yes he is developing normally. It just worries me that he thinks its funny, and he hits himself as hard as he can.

by Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D., Dec 10, 2008 05:49AM
You'll be best off by basically ignoring the behavior. Drawing attention to it will likely just serve to encourage it.
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