Matthew bangs his head a lot on our t.v. unit as the doors are hinged so they fold in half but still stick out. Usually he will get some sympathy, a hug and a head rub when he's banged his head.

Well, over the last little while I have been mostly sofa bound, so we are in the family room a good deal of the time. He has taken to intentionaly banging his head into the unit and then coming over for hugs and head rubs. He barely touches the unit looks at me and makes a little noise, rubs his head then comes over for his free hug. It's hard not to laugh. I'm trying not to encourage this behaviour and I don't really understand why he is doing it. The competition has not yet arrived?

Normal? Any thoughts?

By Crystal915 on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 10:49 pm:

Normal. My kid both have mystery ouchies, just for attention. They don't often pretend to do anything specific, like bang their head, but they are good actors, and can "hurt" themselves standing still.

By Tink on Friday, July 22, 2005 - 11:45 pm:

I say normal too. If you don't want to encourage it, I'd really downplay the "ouchie" when you know it is intentional. Just a "Oops. You're ok." and a pat on the head. When it becomes something that doesn't get him much attention, he'll probably stop doing it. He knows that something is changing at home and this is one way for him to find some reassurance.

One word of caution, this may cause him to do it more at first, trying harder to get that attention. It's called a behavior spike and if you can wait it out, he'll drop it pretty quick.

By Kim on Saturday, July 23, 2005 - 08:25 am:

Agree with C and T!