Son pulling at daughter's hair to get attention

Hi everyone,

I am so glad I found this forum. Really great advice from all the twin mommies out there...

So I have somewhat unusual dilemma. My 10 month old son cannot stop pulling at his sister's hair every time I put them in the play area together. I know he does this to get my attention because he ever so sneakily peeks to where I am sitting and laughs. Of course my baby girl is in tears by that time. She is deathly afraid of him right now and howls and crawls away every time he comes close. I want to leave them in their play area to entertain themselves so I can get some work done, but I can't do this and expect to have a daughter with any hair left. lol. Any advice? When this happens, I usually go up to him and in a firm voice say "no pulling" but all he does is laugh and seems happy he got my attention. Argh... what do I do??

 

Can you separate them? Put them in two different play areas? Or, what if you are in the play area with them at the same time-and you model the proper behavior? You could touch gently on her head/his head without him pulling her hair prior to. Or if he does, you tell him no sternly, and them show him how to do it nicely-even taking his hand and doing it with him.

 

Hair pulling is a hilarious game around here too... like Meaghan said, we just started teaching "gentle to brother".. we'd take the offenders hand and show him to pat his brother nicely and we make a BIG deal when they touch each other nicely. They seem to get it now, and although we still have some grabbing and hitting, they're much more likely to give the other one a nice pat or hug.

 

One of my daughters actually tackles her sister. She laughs and laughs but her sister screams. I separate them and say "don't hurt Lillie," but in the end I usually put one in her rocker scooched right up to the play yard. They play through the netting.

One of my daughters actually tackles her sister. She laughs and laughs but her sister screams. I separate them and say "don't hurt Lillie," but in the end I usually put one in her rocker scooched right up to the play yard. They play through the netting.