How to teach my son not to hit in the groin?

Question

My son accidently hit his cousin in the groin one day (lightly) and all of the other cousins and family laughed. Now he thinks this is funny and does it for a laugh. Any suggestions or has anyone read any articles about this behavior? Is it normal - he's six. How do you teach them to stop? I have tried explaining that it hurts but when he gets frustrated or teased by a man, that's the first place he hits.

Answer 1

It sounds harsh, but I agree with the others. You should have him hit himself in the groin so he can see that it hurts.

Answer 2

My daughter was also like that. She eventually learned the hard way when she hit one of her classmates so hard he had to have one of his testicles removed. And I learned the hard way because I had to pay the doctors bill! I agree with the others. You shouldn't hit him, a sharp pat will work well enough, considering how sensitive the area is. It will cause him enough discomfort to get the picture, but not really what you would call pain. Good luck.

Answer 3

simple. get someone to hit him in the groin. he will soon stop.

Answer 4

-try hit him there and show him that it hurts and its not right

-yell at him

-get him a therapist

-when he hits someone's groin again then everyone around him

should not laugh and be disapointed or mad at him this will show him the way he learned it

-tell him he will have no way in life if he continue like that

Answer 5

Unlike other people suggestion, I would not hit a child in the groin area. It is completely inappropriate(as an adult), to try and teach a child not to hit someone, by hitting them in the groin area.

You need to set clear consequences for his behavior. He is old enough to understand that hitting someone in the groin is not appropriate behavior and will result in some type of consequence. I would suggest taking away some type of privilege(and it has to be something he really enjoys). You do not want to make it too long, as it will make the punishment seem endless and it will lose its value(he needs to know that he will soon have a chance to get that privilege back and not lose it).

It is time to sit him down and outline what he needs to do, and what the result is, if he fails to do it. You want to keep it simple, there should be no hitting(any place on someone's body) at any time. If he does not follow those rules, then he will lose t.v for the rest of the day, spend 6 min in timeout, his friends will go home that day, etc.

I think you also need to look at the situation where the hitting occurs. Why is he being teased by grown men? If this teasing is occurring in ear shot of you, then you need to intervene before it results in a punch to the groin. Get down on your sons level and give him the words he needs to deal with bullies. Something along the lines of..., "I can see that Jim is making you feel bad, you must be angry. You need to tell Jim that you don't like it when he teases you and to please stop." Some people are reluctant to give boys the words they need to solve problems, as it makes them think it will turn their son into a whiner, or that it is not manly to tell others how they feel or if something is hurting them emotionally. Little boys need the words to express their feelings, otherwise they resort to physical means. Their thinking would be, if words are not working(or I don't have the means to stop someone with my words), I need to resort to physically hurting them, as that is a sure way to get my point across.

it may take a few times of taking privileges or time-outs, but eventually it will work. You need to stay firm and not laugh one moment and punish the next. You need to talk to him about his behavior every time it happens and reiterate the lesson of not hitting.

Answer 6

It's unfortunate that they laughed like that. Now you have to go through the work of reprogramming his brain that it's not funny.

Teach him to not hit anyone, anywhere, ever. It makes the boundary more clear-cut and easier to enforce. Plus, it's just plain right to never hit people.

Come up with a consequence for hitting. Six minutes in time-out, send him to his room, take away privledges. I wouldn't spank (That would be the classic "Don't hit"--whap!). Whatever you do, do it consistently. Every time he hits. In my opinion the time out or sent to his room would make better consequences for that, just because it's more immediate than "No TV tomorrow." It's easier to learn something if the consequence or reward is strongly connected to the behavior. And no warnings. One hit means immediate consequences.

In addition to that, I would also give rewards for not hitting. If an entire day goes by where he doesn't hit anyone at all, put a sticker on a chart at bedtime. Ten stickers means some special treat (ice cream or 2 hours at the park with mom/dad, or whatever would work for him). Another good one would be if you see him raise his had to hit someone and stop himself from doing it, give an extra sticker right then and there.

At six, I think that he would be old enough that if you explained the new rules to him when he gets up tomorrow he should understand. Simply state the consequences for hitting from that moment on and expalin about the sticker chart. Then, stick to it. Consistency is going to be most important.

Good luck with it!

Answer 7

remove him from the situation when it happens.

Answer 8

hit him there a couple times and he'll get the picture

Answer 9

make everybody come into the room and make them not laugh he will stop

Answer 10

punch him in the sack.. i know this sounds mean but it will only take once

Answer 11

Don't hit him there like everyone is saying.

That's really really really stupid and immature. You're supposed to teach him not to do that, not hurt him. How would he learn not to do it if you do it to him?

Explain it to him and reward him if he doesn't or tell people not to laugh when he does it. That way he'll be like oh I guess it's not funny anymore and he'll stop.