Knowing how to stop kids from hitting, biting, or kicking their peers and others helps the parents control this unwanted behavior early. Unfortunately, hitting others is a common unpleasant behavior found in various stages of childhood, and many children may continue it even though parents discipline them. However, pediatric psychologists advise parents to keep calm and understand it as a poor way for young children to communicate their feelings. You may seek medical care to look for any underlying reasons if they do this in later childhood. Read this post to know how to stop a kid from hitting, biting, or kicking peers and parents.
Why Do Children Hit?
Children might show acts of physical aggression to communicate their feelings. This could also be a part of their general development. Some reasons why children might hit include the following:
Physical aggression, such as biting, punching, throwing tantrums, etc., could express their anger and sadness, or it might indicate that they are unable to communicate their concerns. For example, when your child has lost a game, or things do not go as planned, they may turn aggressive (1) Image: Shutterstock
In younger children, hitting someone may be due to a lack of self-control, understanding that hitting someone is wrong, an inability to process feelings, or a desire to test limits (2).
A child may also hit their siblings or others for showing their power and domination over others (3).
Sometimes, unfavorable events during childhood can cause a mental scar, leading to aggression and violent behavior. They include (4):
Victim of physical abuse, sexual abuse, or bullying.
Exposure to violence at home, in the community, or through the media. Image: Shutterstock
Stressful family socioeconomic variables, including poverty, extreme deprivation, divorce, single parenting, unemployment, and lack of extended family support.
Sometimes, there can be a neuropsychiatry reason for the aggressive behavior of children. Disorders, including attention deficit hyperactivity syndrome (ADHD), autism, subnormal intelligence, head injury, rage attacks or episodic controls, and confusion, may cause aggressive behavior in a child to hit or bite someone or throw tantrums. Also, neurometabolic diseases, such as Wilson disease and Huntington disease, can result in aggressive behavior in children (5).
How To Stop A Child From Hitting?
Here are some behavioral management strategies that could be helpful to stop a child from hitting:
