Headbangers Ball: An Angry Toddler
Kids all deal with anger a little differently. Some go off and sulk, while others throw tantrums... kicking and screaming for all they're worth.
Well, my wife and I have been dealing with one I haven't seen before. Special K has been dealing with her anger in a disturbing way. When she gets angry, she will find the nearest object to bang her head on. If she's in the middle of the room, she will drop to her knees and begin banging her head on the floor. If she's near a wall, she will run over and start going at it. Our fear is that with each wall on head encounter, the nickname 'Special K' could take on all new meaning.
Her poor forehead has been constantly bruised. One solution we've come up with is making her room into a padded cell. However, I'm not sure where to even begin with that idea. We've also contemplated putting her in a helmet, but then she may become even more destructive.
Have any of you ever seen this behavior? I'm hoping she grows out of it quickly.
photo courtesy of soundtrack of my life
my son likes to headbang when upset or frustrated. he's not done it on walls or the couch, yet, but has hurt himself in other locations (bouncing his head off the couch cushion back into a pile of toys. stuff like that). we're not sure what do to about it. last time we were at the pediatrician, she acted like it was a normal way for toddlers to express themselves when they didn't have the words to do so otherwise.
i usually try to intervene in some way; if anything, to make his momentum less while he's swinging his head around. not sure what the answers are, but we do deal with the same issues.
Good to know we're not alone. I didn't think we were, but this is one of the most frustrating things as of late. Especially when we take her out in public and people ask why her head is bruised, often offering advice as if we're doing nothing to stop her.
My 2YO son does this too. Now it's not against anything, usually the couch or his bed.
I'm not sure how to get him to stop. :\
If you figure it out, let me know. I'm getting tired of her little rages.
We also went through a phase of this with Neil (When he was 5). It lasted only a few months. I sat down with him several times and we had a few discussions about destructive behavior and what were some good ways to release frustration. That's when I started teaching him Karate and Muay Thai :-) Now, when he gets mad he goes down stairs and punches the bag!
We're trying to get the 4 year old to channel her anger a bit better, but the 1.5 year old isn't quite getting it that banging her head on the wall isn't a good thing. Maybe I can invent a punching bag for toddlers.
We have just started going through something kind of like this. Our 18 month old is starting to throw himself on the ground when he gets mad. He started practing this a few weeks ago. When he was playing he would throw himself on the ground and giggle. As I observed this it looked to me like he was practicing to see how much he could take before it hurt.
Sure enough, a week later he blew one about something. That's when he made his move and belly flopped. This has been a staple in the fit throwing process ever since.
Ah kids... hopefully this problem is just a quickly passing phase. That's interesting that he started practicing his tantrum.
My little man likes to "bonk" as he calls it against my leg when I'm not paying attention to him. It hasn't progressed to inanimate objects, so I can only hope it doesn't for now.
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