My roommate in college had a boyfriend that would share stories about how he was in pediatric therapy for anger issues. The mantra that his therapist encouraged his parents to use when enforcing kind gentle behavior is that they needed A passive panda, not an angry alligator. Well, as much as I hate to admit it...my daughter is the latter.
Claire is a biter. A biter, a pincher, a hitter. The kid has aggressive tendencies and it's getting old quickly. In the course of putting her down for her nap today, she aimed to scratch my eye out but fortunately only got my entire left cheek. The searing pain reminded me that we need to figure out a new way to reinforce that this hitting/scratching/biting phase is unacceptable. And that I need to clip her nails. Ouch! Then, within about 2 minutes she intentionally bit my finger hard enough to leave teeth marks. Both of these incidences, which happen only once per day if we're lucky, are her way of telling us whatever we are doing is not acceptable to her. The problem is, I don't know what I am doing to cause her to hit/bite/scratch me. Today, she was showing no signs of discomfort or anger, she wasn't even crying about having her diaper changed. She was drinking her bottle then, like a mama cat protecting her young, she swooped out of nowhere and made contact with my face. Since this isn't the first time, I have noticed that there is a pattern to her aggression. It seems to only come out when she's tired or frustrated. What's even worse is that I don't have a clue where she picked up this behavior!?! Operation: Teach Child not to Hit (or bite or scratch) is in full session. **Wine and/or margarita donations are gladly accepted.**
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