Hi Ladies,

I'm looking for a bit of advice really, my youngest son is 18 months now and is ...well.... horrible :( I just dont know how to handle him. No matter what i say he will repeatedly do things he is not meant to do, whether its getting the dvds out of the boxer, turning telly off repeatedly. climbing on the bay windowsill, we were at a birthday party for my older sons friend on saturday and i spent the entire time dragging him out of the kitchen or off the stairs, he just looks at me, grins and does it again and again. He is horrid to his brother too, he throws toys at him, hard ones, hits, kicks, pinches and pokes him and this evening in the bedroom when my oldest was coming through the door he slammed the door on his head, he now has a cut on one temple and a bump on the other. I've tried saying no, i've tried saying no without the word, ive tried moving him away from whatever it is and he just keeps going back. It's relentless, from the moment he wakes to the moment he goes to sleep. I've even tried smacking his hand...nothing! I've tried to sit him out though he's a little young, he just keeps getting up or just laughs at me. If he doesnt get his own way he bangs his face against the floor.

I dont know what to do? I am at a complete loss, my first was an absolute breeze compared to this...i am reduced to tears most days because i just cant control him. What makes it worse is if anyone comes around or we are out with friends etc he is all sweetness and light....why cant he be like that at home??

awww bless, hes only 18 months remember!!

Oh hon I really do feel for you. Josh was the same but I think he just grew out of it. He is 3 now and is a joy when he is alone. Put him with his sister and they fight and scream. Luckily we dont have stairs but when he was at someone elses house he would be very fasinated with the stairs. We found, with josh, if we just let him climb the stair (supervised) the erge was over and he wasnt interested.

It's a funny age - he's wanting to be independent but doesnt understand when he's wrong or why x

Jacob was so laid back and placid, he barely even had terrible two's... i just don't know what's hit me, it's stupid, i'm a nursery nurse and i feel like i should know what to do but i jsut dont.

No your right, we wouldnt have let josh hit leah that is wrong, Josh never hits leah unless she has wound him up first but it is still wrong and he is shouted at and put on the naughty step. Josh is very protective over his trains and cars he wont even let me play with him. If anyone touches them he has a screaming fit, josh is very stubborn and would rather sit on the naughty step than say sorry to leah.

my daughter is 14 mnth and exactly the same,i know how stressfull it is but they dont really understand at that age,i try 2 distract my daughter if she does something bad ill make up a game to take her away from what she s doing,when they do something bad ignore it and really praise him when he plays nice.its hard work but it does help.x

I know it may seam harsh but have you tried a naughty spot. We started with one for our girl not long after she turned 2, that when she got too naughty.
They have to stay in for 1 minute of there age.
It may be difficult at first as they wont stay there, but all we do is come down to her level and explane to her why she's been put there and tell her she has to stand there for however many minutes. We do not speak to her at all whilst she's in there and if she comes out, we just put her back there and the time starts again. They do eventually stay.
When her time is up, when she was younger we explaned to her again why she was put there, but now she's 4 we ask her if she knows why. Then she says she's sorry and gives us a kiss.

I could have wrote your rant as its the exact thing I am going through. My toddler started acting like this at around 18 months and at 26 months he is still the same. He is completely different to my 10 yr old boy who was v placid and quiet. My toddler Reece, thinks its a game to slap, pinch, bite etc and if I or h2b shout or tap his hand he just grins and thinks it hilarious. I dread taking him anywhere for fear of him causing a scene. He throws himself on the floor and refuses to budge. Our families joke about our tiny horror but its gets embarrassing, frustrating and is making life v hard. My mum will babysit him, but Steves mum doesn't seem to want to and we believe its because of his behaviour.
He slaps and pinches our eldest son Connor and a few days ago bit his arm so hard it came up in big raised bruise.
He climbs onto the back on the sofa, window sills... eveything. When we tell him to get down he just grins and just carries on.
Steve believes a lot of Reece's temper is frustration as although he says a few words he is quite delayed in his speech. We have taken him to see the health visitor who says he is fine and perfectly normal for a toddler and that he will grow out of it.
We have asked to be referred to a speech therapist to see if we can get advice on helping him develop his speech. In all honestly sometimes I want to tear my hair out. We want him to start nursery in the summer for just a few hours a week to maybe help with his speech before he starts properly easter 2012. We are worried though how he interacts with other kids and if he will start hitting out like he does at home and with friends kids. The only comfort I have is the hope that he started his terrible 2's early, he wont be a toddler terror forever and hopefully its a phase that he will outgrow. Hugs hun from one frazzled mummy to another. xxx