My 18 month old son has been hitting over the last 2 months. It kind of started innocently, where he would kind of wave his arms while we were holding him and he'd accidentally hit us. Now he is purposefully hitting my husband and me in the face. He hit our friends kid yesterday 3 times, The first time he ran up to him, gave him a hug, and then swatted at him, another time it was with a toy rattle.

When he hits us, it's because he is frustrated, or doesn't want to do something. Sometimes it seems like he does it to push boundaries. When it was with my friend's son it was a territorial thing, or it was over a toy. He was going through a "mine" phase the last couple of months too. I really don't know what to do. So far all we do is grab his hands and say " NO! Hands are not for hitting, hitting hurts". I've started to praise him for hugs " Hugs are good, hugs feel good". Yesterday when he hit my friend's son I took him out of the house and told him the hands are not for hitting slogan.

What else should I be doing? This really sucks. I don't want my kid to turn into a jerk. He's going back to daycare on Wednesday ( they were on summer break for 2 weeks) and I'm so scared I'm going to get calls from the daycare to pick him because he is hitting. He wasn't like this at all in the infant room. He'll be in the 18 month room and I think there are 5 other kids in that room. I'm definitely worried =[