Mom's of boys around 5 - really any moms of DC around 5 - pls come in.

What do you tell your child to do when another child hits/punches/pushes them?

I am having a hard time with this! I feel like all my approaches thus far have not been the right one. TIA!

Re: Mom's of boys around 5 - really any moms of DC around 5 - pls come in.

He tells them to stop. If they do not listen first time, he tells someone.

If after he tells and nothing changes, I have seen him hit back...but he gets upset after all that. Thinking he is wrong. Usually this happens at soccer practice. He is not a rough house kind of guy....it def confuses him when kids get bored and cannot keep hands to themselves.

If I see this, I yell, josh just tell him to stop. He tells kid to stop...if kid doesn't...he will tell coach

Re: Mom's of boys around 5 - really any moms of DC around 5 - pls come in.

We just dealt with this. DS is a good kid and last week another child tried to bully him. He came home and told me about it. The kid had apparently bothered everyone else in the group and is known as the bad kid. I told DS never instigate a fight, but if he needs to defend himself that is ok with me. He knows he should try to diffuse the situation with words or go to the teacher/counselor before resorting to defending himself. He knows it is wrong to hit or hurt someone.

We practiced role playing how to speak up for yourself. I said that he should say to the bully that he was not going to be friends him, and that the kid was not being a friend. I also told him it was ok to ignore the bully and play with his friends. Apparently the kid tried something again with my son the next day after the first incident (where my son originally did not stand up for himself). DS apparently hit the kid back. He was spoken to by the counselors but they said to me they did not know who started it, and it looked like DS was defending himself. I reiterated that we don't hit first ever and not to hit girls ever. he said that the other kid was trying to drown him in the pool and he hit the other kid to stop him. Since he defended himself he said the kid left him alone.

Re: Mom's of boys around 5 - really any moms of DC around 5 - pls come in.

I tell him to tell an adult, what he does most of the time is hit back. He's a sweet kid but very impulsive.

This summer I sent him to camp and he came home with welts and bite marks all over his body one day. When I asked the people at the camp, they had no idea he was in a fight. I pulled him out that day. Sometimes it's a supervision issue rather than a problem with the kids themselves.

I feel like telling them to go to an adult is usually the best course of action. I know some people say to hit back, but unless it's a bully situation I don't think that's the best approach.

I don't think there is one right way to handle these things.