hitting problem

[working dog]

hi all...heres the problem.....my youngest daughter had a daughter 2 years ago...she was 19 when she had her..kind of young but has done an incredible job with her daughter...her daughter is very smart and just such a great kid...both my daughter and her husband spend lots of time with their child...today my daughter asked me if any of "us" meaning any of my kids..(i had 7.......5 girls 2 boys...) had hit myself or my wife when they were little...i said no...nothing like that...she said just lately her daughter will all of a sudden started hitting her...even tried to poke her with a fork...i told her the only thing i could think of is it was for attention...i have to wonder what to tell her to do about this ..any input???.thanks.....billy

[margypops]

I am glad you will look into whether she has learned this behavior,from others , I know of many incidents where older children will teach small children and babies to do negative behaviors,  the little ones copy, parents dont always see it, babysitter do it especially if they are young teens ,other family members ie cousins ..its very common .

[working dog]

thanks you guys for your input and taking the time to help...the copy thing is interesting... i'll look into it though... thinking back to it we stayed firm with our kids...tried to stay consistent...nobodies perfect though...i was better with the teens and my wife was better with the babies....thanks again....billy

[Adens_Mommy]

Most children go through a hitting stage.. you just have to be firm and remove them from the situation... They will eventually relize that it is wrong and quit doing it. and I do not agree with Rockrose... I am currently 20 and i have two children. I had my first at 17 and he is almost three I have NO problem with being a parent. My children r well behaved... I think it takes the right person tobe a parent and age does not matter. Me and my husband who is 19 r better parents than some 40 yr olds i know including my ownfather.

[margypops]

Could she have seen and be copying this behavior?do they have any family members visit is she alone with other older children as sometimes they make a game of teasing little ones,what about babysitters one hears of what ,in my opinion are very young teens babysitting small children even babies.The best way to deal with it in a 2 year old is to speak firmly  'NO,' and remove themselves from her so she knows that doing the hitting is not  allowed..

[working dog]

my daughters 21 now...not that young....her daughter is only 2 ....i'm not sure what you mean by "take control".....billy

[RockRose]

Billy,  here's the deal.  Your teenage daughter and her husband are too young to parent.  They're too young.  They don't know how to take control.  

But you can.  You can show them now to take control of this child and not allow this child to hit her parents.

You know how to do this.  Show them how.

Best wishes.