2 Year Old Is Mean To His Little Sister...

[canadian_dad]

Our 2 year old has become very jealous of his baby sister recently (even though she is almost a year) and has started being very mean to her (knocking her down when she is walking, stealing toys, pushing her etc..) We have tried timeouts and taking favorite toys away but nothing seems to work. Does anybody have any suggestions of things we could try to stop this kind of behavior?
Thanks,

 

[MidwestMom]

Well, at two, its hard to reason with them. Have you tried rewarding for positive behavior with his sister? It might make a difference.

Mine were only 18 months apart, and there were times when I felt like a non stop referee. LOL

 

[Freckles]

I dont have children yet, but I agree with MidwestMom. Try rewarding good behavior that involves the sister, and not giving him the attention he wants when he is bad. Keep up with the time outs, but dont give in after a short period- and make them count. A time out with a 2 yr old being sent to his room isn't that bad as there is toys and a bed, etc in there. Instead, perhaps try a time out on a chair facing an empty corner in the room and dont talk to him until he can say sorry to his sister in a nice, calm tone.

 

[canadian_dad]

Mine were only 18 months apart, and there were times when I felt like a non stop referee. LOL

This is exactly how I feel most days as the little one isn't innocent either. She likes to get in there and bug her brother she just hasn't started hitting yet.

I like the idea of a timeout in the corner and the reward for being nice to his sister. Will definitely be telling the wife about these ideas and will start with them tomorrow.

Thanks for the great suggestions.

 

[MidwestMom]

LOL when they get older, you can make them sit on the couch and hold hands, nicely. We did ours. Oooooo they hated that. ROFL

 

[Freckles]

LOL!! Midwest that is an awesome idea!! Hehehe

 

[fallon]

LOL when they get older, you can make them sit on the couch and hold hands, nicely. We did ours. Oooooo they hated that. ROFL

haha...That's an awesome idea!!! I will totally be using that one in the future

 

[MidwestMom]

LOL!! Midwest that is an awesome idea!! Hehehe

haha...That's an awesome idea!!! I will totally be using that one in the future

We used this method on several occasions. And if they weren't good while holding hands we told them that they would have to hug instead. <insert evil laugh here>

 

[Xero]

LOL when they get older, you can make them sit on the couch and hold hands, nicely. We did ours. Oooooo they hated that. ROFL

OMG my mom did that to us! My one sister and I used to fight sooo bad all the time, and it drove my mom crazy. It got to the point where she decided that we were going to sit in the middle of the floor and hold hands with each other, or possibly even hug each other, for a certain amount of time without talking. WE HATED IT, but now we look back on it as hilarious and totally laugh about it. Our mom always had the most creative punishments. When my brother threw a glass of water at the dog's face just to be mean, she filled up a cup of water and threw it in HIS face to see how funny he thought THAT was. He cried and said it wasn't funny. LOL.

Anyway she said sisters are supposed to love each other and if we couldn't be nice then we'd have to do that. haha. Use it, it works.

 

[canadian_dad]

I just talked to my wife and she tried the timeout in a chair in the corner idea and as soon as she turned her back on him to check on our daughter he ran off to his room to play. She said she finally got him to sit there for the 3 minute timeout but had to threaten him with a nap.

 

[Dadu2004]

That's pretty common...alot of times you may have to stand there and physically hold the child until they get the point.