My son is an absolute diamond most of the time but as all kids do he has his moments. Lately he's started being naughty and I don't know what to do about it. He's always been mischievous and cheeky but never actually bad, so I've never really had to tell him off, and when I have it's just been more of a guiding hand away from the dangerous thing or a "no, don't do that please" which have always worked.

I know he's probably just finding his feet and testing boundaries which is fine but he's been biting me (in a playful way) and hitting when he's upset, and I want him to know that those things aren't ok. I've tried saying "ouch!' when he bites but he thinks I'm playing. When he hits we've tried saying "no, you don't hit" etc and have also tried catching his hand mid-hit and trying to soothe him but they don't work.

I don't really like the idea of disciplining him as such, are they even old enough to be fully understand at this age? What can we do to teach him he's being naughty? He knows what naughty means (if he bumps into something he tells us the object is naughty etc) so I'm weary of even using that specific word because when I have done in the past he started hitting himself in the head shouting "naughty, naughty Eddie" and I don't want to encourage that.