Post by @kendraworth

Your child isn’t hitting or kicking because they’re evil, they’re showing what we view as *aggressive* behaviors for several reasons…lack of impulse control, language gaps under stress, the need to externalize emotions, trying to understand cause & effect, and a lack of cognitive empathy (which doesn’t develop until 4-5 YO) You’re not going to address those underlying issues by punishing your child or hitting/kicking them back. You’re going to address them by teaching them how to redirect the energy in their bodies into positive outlets, how to use their words to express themselves, and teaching them how to be empathetic. Contrary to popular belief, consequences don’t always have to make a child feel miserable for them to work. Positive reinforcement & praise are much more powerful than negative reinforcement & punishment. Because I redirected my child into positive outlets, I was able to praise her for kicking something appropriate instead of punishing her for kicking her sister. I was also able to help her release her negative feelings physically so that she could go back to playing with her sister without any residual resentment. Showing love and compassion will help your child become loving and compassionate. Being punitive and cruel will make your child more cruel. Make sure to follow me @kendraworth for all things REAL LIFE evidence-based gentle parenting & head to the 🔗 in my bio or hhsleep.com for more parenting & no-tears sleep training resource PS-I cut this video down to just my redirection. We also got to the root of why she kicked in the first place and talked more about empathy and how kicking makes someone else feel once she was playing calmly #creatorsearchinsights #aggressivekids #toddlerkicking #discipline #strictparents How to deal with child hitting How to discipline aggressive behaviors How to stop a child kicking or hitting Gentle parenting Caught on camera Viral parenting