How to Deal With Hair Pulling Problem in Kids

Biting, pinching and hair pulling are part of normal child development. But instead of getting shocked or depressed, dealing this problem with patience will let you teach your child more apt ways of expressing himself.

Why toddlers pull hair?

Do not go into big issues. Your child is very young and does not know about issues and problems.

Explore things – Often toddlers bite or pull hair just to explore their environment. Toddlers pull hair and see the reaction. If you laugh or react strongly, it urges them to try that again.

Express anger – Another reason for pulling hair is that your child is showing his anger or maybe he is hurt or upset.

Imitating – Sometimes toddler just do something because they might have seen someone else or another toddler do so.

How to respond

When you see your little angle pull hair for the first time, it is quite natural to feel embarrassed or even angry. But remember the way you will respond to the action would influence your child’s behaviour in future.

Stay calm and workout a constructive way to deal with the problem. This will promote positive behaviour in your child and he will learn what appropriate behaviour is.

Tips to deal with hair pulling problem in toddlers

Be calm and consistent

Do not take things personally. Your child is too small to know that you will be hurt by pulling hair. Stay calm and stop her from doing that. Do not expect that since you told your child once, he will never do that again. You will have to stop him again if he repeats this action.

Do not give in

The first thing you can do is to show your child that pulling someone’s hair does not work. This means that if he tries to get the toy by pulling hair of another child, take the toy and give it to that child. Act immediately and do not nag because small children live in the moment and forget easily.

Interrupt him gently

When you see your child pulling hair, gently disentangle him and hold his hands. You can make use of time-out, but stay with him and do not talk to him.

Talk to your child

Despite of your child’s very young age, if you would talk to your child through the situation, it would work. Make sure your child understands what you want to say because it all depends on how young your child is. Asking questions would also help because this will make your child think and answer.

Do not pull back

You should never pull your child’s hair back just to show him how it feels. This will in turn teach him that hair pulling is the right way to alter someone else’s behaviour.

Instead, make use of word to express his needs or requirement of the moment. Remember, you need to model the behaviour you want to see in him. Show him to use words to express feelings and not to harm others regardless of how frustrated he feels.