spitting and throwing dirt

[Beauty4Ashes]

I am second guessing myself on this point. Today ds1 was kind of spitting/blowing raspberries too close to other people who were outside. I took him aside and told him that if he was going to spit, it would have to be away from other people and redirected him to another area. He was also throwing sand. I caught his hand, moved him away from the other child that he was playing with and explained to him that he is not allowed to throw sand. Maybe I should have just taken him inside. He was having a good time playing with that child, and I dreaded trying to take him in the house and face a full fledged meltdown. How do you handle spitting/throwing sand?

[OpalsMom]

Your reactions sound fine -- did he do it again? If it worked to stop him, I don't think there's any reason to go in. For instance, some kid throws sand almost every time we go to the playground. As long as somebody does something about it, and it stops, I'm not fussed. I would have found your reaction entirely appropriate.

[Beauty4Ashes]

He would stop for a moment but would go back to blowing raspberries or throwing dirt. I kept moving him so as to give the other boy his space. How many times do you remove your child from doing whatever he/she is doing before you just take them inside and end the game?

[OpalsMom]

With DD, the first time an issue comes up, the first time she does it I remove her and talk to her, the second time I remove her, talk to her, and tell her we'll leave if it happens again, the third time we leave. Next time we go to the park, one remove/talk/warn, second time we leave. (That does not happen often; DD can be remarkably good at these things. Unless she's in boundary-checking mode, one leave, no repeats, ever. In boundary checking mode, we get to the park, it's "See how many rules we can get a warning on" time. Eventually we just go.)

If it's not working, don't try it a lot of times. At the very least, change strategies. Like move him to some game where he can't do the troublesome behavior (swings?)

[Beauty4Ashes]

There aren't any swings. I tried to redirect him to a climbing toy or had him sit on my lap. I try to keep him a safe distance away from this particular boy because this boy tends to complain about Bashar a lot or hit or call him names.