Toddler Interlude: Hitting

Lil Man: Mom, [insert child's name] hits me some days.
Me: Huh? Did you tell the teacher?
Lil Man: Yeah.
Me: Okay. No one should be hitting you. That is not very kind or nice.
Lil Man: Well, mom & dad sometimes hit me.
Me: No, we spank you. There's a difference. It's a punishment. [Insert child's name] isn't allowed to spank you so you tell someone so they can address it.
Lil Man. Okay, but you & dad do hit me sometimes.
Me: Okay. That's true.

Conversation ended there as far as he was concerned, but for me it lingered. I realized that my child doesn't understand the difference AND that I really don't want him to understand it. I think it's okay to think that hitting is wrong - all the time. I just have to figure out more stern consequences for my boy that provide the same result as a spanking. Did you read my Weird, Huh? post? If not, check it out. This conversation happened the day before I wrote that. I haven't spanked him in some time, but it still bothered me to know that each time I have, he looked upon it as just a hit; not the result I wanted. Well, I fell off and now I'm hopping back on to my no hitting plan. When we're consistent and attentive, we get less push back anyway. So here's to sticking to the plan.

What is the plan? Aside from no hitting, we use rules, conversations, distractions, music, and breathing techniques to solve most problems. A rule is something that can't be questioned and are usually for ensuring the peacefulness and efficiency we like in our household. You know what a conversation is, and we use ours to teach & learn throughout the day. Distractions work when what he's doing is just rather annoying, but not necessarily dangerous. Music is our "let loose and just be free" thing. Breathing techniques are used to calm us. What are some things you use?

Whelp, that is all for now folks. Later ...