Toddler bullies.

I'm an experienced parent, but with singletons, not with LO's that pull each others hair, bite, and use toys as weapons. The dog is no longer safe. He is one ball of fur, which means pull it to these guys.

I am trying to stay calm, firm, and consistant. I show them gentle hands on the dog not hurting hands. I show them strokes. So far no luck.

I really didn't see this coming. If anyone has suggestions I welcome them.

 

Being consistent is key and maybe limiting access to the dog until they understand no. We do 123 magic with timeouts and that seems to help mine. Good luck!

 

My girls started to pull each others hair and I would grab the offender's hand and guide it to pet and say gentle. It took a few weeks, but now they "pet" eachother's hair and then hug. And when I say "head" and point to the head they laugh and say, "gentle".

I also have one girl who has aggressive tendencies. She cannot communicate as well as the other one right now, so when she acts aggressively I remove her from the situation, and do not reward her behavior. I explain to her that it is unacceptable. (While she may not understand my words, she gets the tone and the feeling which seems to work.)

 

ITA with both of the PPs. It may take some time, but you have to be 100% consistent and it will get better. I do the same thing with "touch nice" when my boys hit the dog. It's taken a while, but now they are almost always gentle with her, and even say "nice" when petting her.

Your toddlers are *not* bullies; this is 100% normal toddler behavior, it's just twice as bad because you have 2 of them! Stay consistent, teach them appropriate touching and they will get it!