Toddler keeps hitting

Hello everyone, hope everyone is doing great. My daughter is almost 3 yo and somehow she has this THREEnager behaviour.

In these past two months, me and my husband noticed that she started to hit us or table or herself every single time we said NO to her or when she wants something and get impatient because we asked her to wait.

Sometimes when she tried to hit us, she stopped mid air and not hit us in the end. And sometimes, she hit us already, but her facial reaction is like someone who regrets it. It's like she cannot control her anger.

I am afraid she will keep doing this and considering she will be in school soon and hitting her friends. When I saw her hand started to hit me, usually I direct her hands to my arms and telling her that she has hands to stroke sofly or to draw or to eat, rather than use her hands to hit us or something.

We keep giving her idea that hitting is bad and if you dont want to get hit, then dont do it to others, but it's not working.

I dont know that this is just a phase, or she develops bad behaviour. Hope you guys can share your idean, tips, or experiences. Thank you so much