When one of my friends asked on Facebook the other day how she can teach her little boy to not hit, I was instantly reminded of an experience I had with K when he was younger and going through that wonderful hitting phase.
I was getting so frustrated with K’s hitting that I was praying about it for guidance. That was truly my biggest problem at that point in life and it was driving me nuts!
One day I was sitting in the hallway with K when suddenly he up and hit me in the face. As I went to reprimand him, the thought came to my mind to “teach him what is nice.” I instantly changed tactics and started telling him every time he hit “hitting is not nice. Hugging is nice, kisses are nice, high-fives are nice.”
Every time he hit, I would say the same thing and instantly he would hug me, kiss me and give me high-fives instead of continuing to hit me or whoever else he was hitting.
I truly feel that God had answered my prayers by placing that thought in my mind and I am so grateful for that inspiration.
Hugs instead of hitting? That works for me and is definitely one of the finer things in life.
The above picture was taken in that very hallway, at about the same time I had this experience. Golly he was (and still is) so cute!
What a great idea!
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned wanting to succeed in the same way with future issues -- check out the forum on gentlechristianmothers.com -- caring ladies will help walk you through Grace Based Discipline. (completely free, and you can just lurk if you want! I'm a member, not a salesman!)
Your decision to change hitting into hugs (instead of punishing him for hitting) is a perfect example of GBD.
Gorgeous photo!
Great idea! I so needed this. Ryan has begun hitting and kicking me lately. I will definitely try this!
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