Child hitting parents

Does he have a therapist yet? If not, I hope it will not take a long time to get one. Obviously he is very upset right now with the changes that have occurred in his life. He probably has witnessed and experienced violence in his first home. He is very young and kids don't have very good impulse controll. I don't have experience with a child that hits, but my daughter used to run at me and squeeze my arm hard with her hands (and fingernails). In general her punishment for touching me in anger has been that she loses out on attending her favorite Friday night party (kid party that is at the local recreation center for 7 to 14 yr olds). She gets to stay home and keep me company (which I make a big deal of about how happy I am to have her stay home with me). I don't suppose your foster son has much to lose. You don't want him to feel like he cannot succeed. Maybe you could sit down with him when he is calm and draw up a little contract about it. Explain to him that you love him but will not let him hurt anyone, and that you will not let anyone hurt him either. Supposedly out-of-control kids are frightened by their own behavior and will feel a lot of relief if the adult can calmly handle them and keep everyone safe from them. It is really important that you do not yell, you have to be the emotionally-strong one who is calm and ultimately in control. Good luck with that! ha, sorry, it is hard to be calm when a kid is being scary. I remember my daughter used to get a knife and stab pillows. I'm lucky that my daughter is basically a big chicken. She told the cops (the time she was so out of control that I called 911) that she was too chicken to hurt herself and even more too afraid to hurt anyone else. The Boys and Girls Town people have a free 800 number with counselors. Maybe part of your contract with your foster son would be for him to call them when he feels like he wants to hit. They told me that if a child is hitting an adult the adult should calmly describe the child's behavior to them while telling them you do not like it. I'm sure you will get much more helpful responses than mine. I am so glad my daughter (so far) limits her aggression. She told me once that she'd rather be like her bdad (the hitter) than her bmom (the hittee). Perhaps your fson needs to know that there are more than two choices (hit or be hit). There is a book called The Defiant Child by Dr. D. A. Riley. It is a pretty good book. Also the book called The Explosive Child is an interesting and helpful book.