Put Up Your Dukes

I've got a bit of a situation on my hands, and his name is Baylor. Yesterday, we had a bit of scene during a play date with our buddy, Ethan, thanks to Baylor's brutish behavior. Ethan had only been at the house a few minutes, when he made the unfortunate decision to pick up one of Jax's toy monster trucks. Well, evidently, in Jax's absence, Baylor considers the monster trucks prized possessions & marched right up to Ethan, snatched the truck from his hands, and then slapped him in the face! Not exactly the welcome message I would extend to a friend I'm hosting! Talk about mortifying!

I rushed over and immediately scolded Baylor for hitting his friend and placed him in the timeout corner. As Baylor stood in timeout wailing, I went over and apologized to Ethan and his mom, Whitney, who up until that moment WAS my good friend. Ethan's tears quickly dried up when I handed the truck back to him. Luckily, I think Ethan's emotional trauma was caused by losing the toy. I wish I could say the same! It was so embarrassing to be "that" mom. You know, the one in the play group that can't control her kid. I seriously couldn't believe Baylor had just slapped his little friend.

Now, I've blogged about our hitting issues before. Sadly, this problem isn't new. Baylor has been hitting Jax for months now, and all of our efforts to stop the behavior clearly aren't working. In fact, I'd say the problem is escalating. Not that it's right, but it's one thing to slap your sibling. Somehow that seems like normal kid stuff. It's a whole 'nother ballgame when you start beating up your friends! So, I'm looking for advice. Anybody been through this and have the solution?

We never punish Baylor with a spanking for hitting, only a verbal scolding and timeout. I'm stern about too, and Anh is working on being stern. I think yesterday's assault may be his breaking point with "cute little Baylor." What else can you really do with a 21 month old for punishment? Should I tell Jax to start hitting him back? It sounds warped, but maybe Baylor needs to know that there's consequences to hitting others, you may get hit back. I'm lost...