How to help your caregiver with this topic

• Discuss with your caregiver positive techniques that have worked at home to reduce the incidents of biting, hitting or other specific aggressive behaviors with your child.



• If your caregiver reports that your child was bitten or hit, stay calm. Let the caregiver explain what happened and what steps are being put in place to reduce chances that this will happen again.



• Likewise, if your child was the biter or hitter, work with your caregiver on consistent messages that will be used at home and at the child care program to change the behavior.



• Never hit or bite a child for aggressive behavior nor approve of it at the child care program. Biting or hitting by an adult is just reinforcing that aggressive behavior is “OK”.



• If your child is teething, supply a favorite teething toy. An “ice pop” made with a home freezer popsicle set can dull teething pain without the sugar found in commercial products.



• Print off some of the helpful information sheets listed in the Additional Resources Section and discuss with your caregiver.