[cheychey]

Our daughter (age 3) has learned a new trick from one of her classmates. She now SPITS. She spits when she is mad, frustrated, or bored. Our son and his friends are her main target and the floor is the target when bored. Poor ds has to sit next to her in the car and ends up with a bath of her spit. We have tried time-ins, time-outs, and redirection, nothing seems to get her to stop. I know it's a phase some kids go through, but how do get them past it this is just gross.

Any advise is greatly appreciated.

[lisam00]

Oh my gosh, my daughter is spitting now too! It is driving me crazy. We have tried just calmly saying "there is no spitting". We have tried time outs. We have tried ignoring it. We have tried redirection.

This morning as I was making oatmeal for breakfast, she was laying on the kitchen floor face down. When she jumped up for the oatmeal, there was a little puddle of spit on the floor! I said "Ava, why are you doing that?". She looked up and said "me not do that". Ugh, frustrating!

Luckily, she hasn't spit at people...yet. I hope that isn't coming next.

I'll be watching for any great advice!

Lisa

[ana-mom]

No spitting here - just licking everything in sight (Yuck!).

When my sister's son did this she used to put a little soap on the end of his tongue until he stopped. It worked but she was at her wit's end.

[ForeverOurs]

DS is two and spits when he is in trouble or bored. Does spit on people, just spits on the floor. My story is much like the other two as nothing has worked in stopping him at this point. I try to ignore it and turn his attention to something else. It is a lovely stage.

I am glad to hear we aren't the only ones.

[srspiv]

Not to worry you but my son started this when around 2 and still does it at 5. He doesn't spit at people but when crying drools and spits all over himself and the floor. Lovely...

[arthymom]

I'm reading 1-2-3 magic and plan to use it with ds. Great book!

It isn't long and has some great discipline strategies that are simple and I think you could modify for attachment purposes (like they call for a time out, you could do something different.)

Best wishes!

[asauer]

My sister has a 3 year old who started spitting at 2. She uses the Love and Logic approach which has helped w/ spitting. When he spits, my sister really only says "uh,oh that wasn't a good decision" but when he comes back later and asks to have her read a story, play blocks etc, she says "oh no, I would be afraid you'd spit on me if I got too close." This has worked extremely well in letting him know that when he spits, people don't want to be around him. Of course, this requires the cooperation of family. He stopped spitting after about 2 months.

[cheychey]

Thank you all for your posts. I hope this phase passes quickly.

[ddhuab]

My daugher also learned this recently, from a friend's child. She doesn't know how to spit at people yet, but she learned to bubble her spit up and drool. YUCK.

I just keep telling her we only spit when we brush our teeth. We use 1-2-3 magic, currently, for discipline, but until she actually spits AT a person, I won't be putting her in time out for that. I really liked the logic answer method.

I think kids really like the sensation and control issues that come with learning to use parts of their body, but that is just my instinctive answer. (I am ashamed to admit I can still remember liking to pick my nose and flick it, until an uncle saw me once and asked me why I did that? -- I was eight, I think).

D.

[Call6]

Dab a little bit of lemon juice on her tongue when she spits..worked the first time I did it for my daughter. She gagged a little but she never spit at me again and that was three years ago.

[Pipercub]

My 16 month old started doing this two weeks ago when she is in trouble. (She saw big sister get in trouble for it ONCE and then decided she wanted to start doing it!) Any time now that my 16 months old is angry or in trouble, she has taken to spitting AT people. Aye! We're doing the stern "NO SPIT" and redirecting her behavior, but it's been two weeks and she's still doing it many times a day. At this point it seems like the "no spit" reaction reinforced the bad behavior instead of curbing it. She gets a lot of attention, but evidently negative attention is something she likes too. *sigh* Bumping....cause someone has to know what to do! How long does this "phase" last???

[Theslaws]

I love the Love and Logic stuff! It really makes sense to have the kids realize why they shouldnt do things. ITs amazing how young they can understand these things. We just dont gvie them enough credit for being as smart as they are. L&L's perspecitve on 1-2-3 is interesting too - they say "in real life do you get 3 chances?" Better to teach them responsibility for their actions young rather than when they are teenagers and their poor choices have more gravity!

Food for thought...