phanes@sun.uucp (Pam Hanes) (10/30/85)
This message is in response to a previous letter that was sent in by a parent whose child was banging his/her head against hard objects. Since I have no children of my own, I deleated the message and kept my comments to myself. After many days of deliberation, I have decided to post this in hopes that the person involved will take it into consideration anyway. My husband, as a child, also displayed this type of behavior; banging his head against walls, wood floors, chairs, ect. (he now sports a nice dent in his upper forehead from it). His mother told me that he generally did this when he was upset, usually mad, at something (read-someone). She felt that he did this because he knew that it was wrong to hit Mommy, sisters, ect. when he was upset so he did something that he knew would catch their attention and hurt them without actually touching them (pretty deep psychology here I know, but she does have five kids). Try as she might, nothing seemed to prevent him from doing this. She started placing a pillow between his head and whatever he was banging against to prevent any injury, and around age 2 he stopped this behavior all together. I know that this is not much of a solution, but she seemed to think that by putting the pillow down and walking away, he was not getting the negative at- tention he was receiving before, and found other ways of dealing with his emotions. I hope this information is of some use or comfort to you and I wish you the best in dealing with this problem. -Pamela Hanes "...and some people kiss cows..."
allen@bunker.UUCP (C. Allen Grabert) (10/31/85)
My son, who is now almost 4, would bang his head when he was in his crib. As
far as we could tell there was no reason for it. I don't remember him being
upset about anything at those times, and he only did it when he was in his crib.
Finally, we had him sleep on his crib mattress on the floor, and that was the
end of it. Perhaps that's what he was asking for all along.
--
"My heart is black and my lips are cold..."
Allen Grabert (...ittatc!bunker!allen)lipp@ihlpg.UUCP (Tim Lippold) (12/02/85)
The reason for the head banging is the important part. In the one article
it was because of being mad. You need to find out what makes the anger and
eliminate it not just cushion the head.
My son does this too but he is perfectly happy when doing it. He is
just discovering his head just like they play with toes when discovering their
toes and feet. I also read in a reputable parents type magazine
this is a perfectly natural part of growing up.
--
Tim Lippold
ih 4e414 x3480
ihlpj!lipp