Siblings Hit and Nazi Paraphernalia for 09/29/2017
Dear Family Coach
Dear Family Coach: Although we know that our 8-year-old daughter loves her 10-year-old brother very much, her first reaction when he teases or otherwise annoys her is to yell and hit him. It’s an immediate overreaction. She does warn him (by yelling), but if he doesn’t stop (which he doesn’t), she hits. How should we approach this? Both kids are at fault, but she definitely takes it to another level. – Sick of Bickering
Dear Sick of Bickering: Your daughter isn’t overreacting. She’s being teased consistently by her older and more powerful brother. That’s frustrating. She also clearly has little control over stopping it. Also frustrating. What looks like overreacting is really your daughter’s being out of acceptable tools to make her brother stop the harassment. So she yells and hits him. She’s angry, and she wants to make him angry, too. Though her methods aren’t appropriate, I can certainly understand the reaction. Can’t you?
Updated: Fri Sep 29, 2017