My kids ares ages 6, 4, and 2. We are an attachment parenting family and I have a very close, connected relationship with all my children. Sometimes the kids get along in a beautiful, harmonious way – other times they are at war.
My older two kids fight frequently – lots of hitting. This is very painful for me to have to witness. I feel very angry when I see them hurt each other. However, I do my best to stay calm and loving. We used to do time outs when they hit. However, we stopped time outs and similar consequences about 1 year ago. Since that time, after hitting, we engage them in discussion about why it is not OK to hurt eachother and we go through conflict resolution process that is based on non-violent communication. In addition, we ask the hurter to help the hurtee in some way.
It seems that no matter what I try, they still hit.
I really need some advice here!