My son is two and testing his boundaries. In general, I'm comfortable with that and have no problem with him getting frustrated when he's not allowed to do something. Unfortunately, his normal mode of expressing his frustration is running his head into something. When he was younger he used to line up his head very carefully with the tile floor and then drop it as hard as he could. He gave that up after 10 or so times. Since then he tends to find the closest wall and run his head into it. Just one time, then he holds his head and is pathetic for a few seconds until he finds something else to do. I'm a little more concerned now though, he's bigger and faster and keeps clipping his head on door knobs. This morning he came close to knocking himself out.
I'm not sure how to "fix" this. We've been exercising the "ignore it" method, and it keeps the tantrums to a bare minimum (generally a few seconds). I'm open to play acting and possibly teaching him a more constructive way to be frustrated, but I'm unsure how to simulate frustration. Any suggestions for more constructive ways to express frustration are welcome as well.
Edit : I fear I've overstated the symptoms a bit. This isn't your classic head banging tantrum, he has never repeated the action within the same sitting or for the same reason. He attempts it once. If he is restrained he will generally throw himself into a laying position for 30 seconds and then go about his business. If he hits his head, he realizes it hurts, and doesn't get the reaction he wants, and stops. My concern is primarily that the life of a two year old is full of frustration and this is sometimes his reaction. I don't think I can train a two year old to suppress his frustration, instead I would like a way to redirect his emotion into an expression that's less potentially harmful.
We have discussed this with his pediatrician before (the tile thing was quite scary), and her attitude was primarily that he could not hurt himself (at that age) and would learn to stop doing it - which is at least partially true. It may even be the case that the accidental door knob to the temple this morning will set him straight on the dangers of running into walls as well.
He's not self-destructive in other ways and he doesn't seem to be doing it for attention (as he doesn't get any from it). If the frequency is important, I'd say I'm aware of him intentionally trying to hit his head approx 3 dozen times in the last 18 months.