children that hit themselves

i found my 8yr old son hitting himself after he had been given into trouble, I heard him slapping himself hard and calling himself stupid, why is he doing this ?  He has always been a well behaved and stable little boy, is it his age what do I do to prevent this from happening again?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

To be frank, I would not focus on the behavior at all. The response is not particularly worrisome and it will go away on its own. Sometimes children who are generally quite well behaved tend to display disproportiionately self-critical responses to misbehavior. You can matter-of-factly let him know that everyone makes mistakes and it's important to face the consequences, learn from the experience and move on.