How to Stop a Toddler From Hair Pulling

As infants grow into toddlers, they often exhibit new behaviors that show their emerging personality. One behaviors that is common in toddlers is hair-pulling. Toddlers that pull hair are often doing so to get attention or a reaction from parents. Many times, simply ignoring the behavior will extinguish it, but if the yanking continues, parents can try these steps to convince their toddler there are better ways to get what she wants.

Things You'll Need

  • Time-out chair
  • Positive-reinforcement items

Instructions

    • 1
      Toddlers often pull hair to get a toy from somebody else.

      Take away whatever the toddler is gaining by pulling hair. Often, with a pull of the hair, the person violated will give the toddler whatever he wants. Often a sibling or friend ends up with the hurt scalp, and will quickly give the toy, cookie, or other object over to stop the pain. Parents must step in and make sure the object is removed from the toddler so he is not getting any reward from pulling hair.

    • 2
      Parents need to use few words with a toddler.

      Give a short, firm command. A toddler's attention span can only handle a few words, so make them count. "No pulling! It hurts!" is one way to handle the situation. According to How Kids Develop in "Your Toddler," parents can word the reprimand in a positive way to exhibit the behavior parents desire, such as "Use words" to remind toddlers that they can verbally ask for whatever it is they are trying to get.

    • 3
      A small chair works well for a time-out spot.

      Remove the toddler and place her in time-out. Parents can find a specified place (chair, rug square, stool) that the child must sit on for a certain amount of time when she breaks the rules. Dr. Sears in "10 Time-Out Techniques" recommends one minute of time-out for each year the child is old, so a two-year-old would need to sit for two minutes. After the time is up, parents can have a short conversation with the toddler about why she was put in time-out and reiterate the rules.

    • 4
      Parents can reinforce desired behavior with some attention.

      Use positive reinforcement when the toddler chooses not to pull hair. With consistent intervention, parents will start to notice toddlers exhibiting some of the desired behaviors, such as using words when they would like something. Parents can verbally praise the child or even offer a tangible reward to encourage this behavior.

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