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More comments on the 2.5 yr old hitting...
My son who is now almost 6 used to hit, and push, and just run over &into
other kids at that age. He had what I'd call very little body awareness & also
did not talk well then. I know the original poster said her dd can speak
very well, but that doesn't always mean that very young kids can communicate
all that they are feeling.
At that time, we were feeling very overwhelmed ( I also had an infant) & I
liked going to play groups to get out of the house and connect with other
moms. It became clear that ds was just not ready for playgroups, Mommy & Me,
etc. Often even one other child was too much for him. So, we backed off on the
playgroups (that was easy to do after we were asked not to return to a few, I
was mortified).
We also had to stop going to the library story time and things like that not
only because he was hitting but he would also RUN away as soon as I started
to pay attention to someone else (like while checking out books- would run
right out the front door of the library if I wasn't fast enough).
It did of course cut into my SAHM social life, but it was what ds needed at
that point in time. Now at 5 3/4 he has friends, goes to the neighbors house
for the day, etc- very few problems if any.
So, some kids just take longer to figure out all the social stuff. I
wouldn't force the play groups if she doesn't seem ready, since it's obviously not
working out. Also, if we were invited to friends for dinner who had kids or
something like that, we were "always right on top of him" to make sure no one
got hurt, AND had to be willing to leave in the middle of things if they
weren't goin well.
Good luck
Amanda B


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