I watch my nephew about 3 or 4 hours a day - and lately he has been screaming and and saying "owie" when my son's touch him - he's not hurt, half the time my kids are trying to hug him or give him something, or play together - but he reacts the same way he does if he fell down the stairs or seriously hurts himself.
It's hard, because it's not every time - it's random, sometimes he's happy even when the kids are a little rough (he's usually the roughest when they are doing that) and sometimes he's happy to play with them and touch and be touched - but then, something will just click and he's screaming over nothing again - sometimes he doesn't know I'm watching and he starts screaming even when my sons aren't even touching him at all, much less hitting, although he'll scream over a light touch even when I'm playing with them an interacting, so it's not just a craving for adult attention....
It's gotten to the point where I'm taking him aside and doing timeouts for the screaming instead of the hitting - he does it constantly. My 3 year old starts crying when my nephew comes because he doesn't like him anymore because of this.
My nephew is 2 1/2 and my kids are 2 and 3.
Has anyone else gone through this and know how to put it to an end so that they are all happy again?
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