Teeth are not for Biting

Along with being a genius, my daughter has quite an aggressive streak. With her best friend, she would sometimes tackle her just to hug her. She also would tend to bite her every so often. Since she has been in school, the teachers have mentioned to us that she sometimes has some issues with hitting, pushing or kicking. I knew that there was a problem yesterday when I walked into Ella's school, and her teacher said to me, "Can I talk to you for a minute?" Uh-oh, my first parent/teacher conference. Ella's teacher proceeded to tell me that not once, but twice in the course of the day, Ella had bitten one of her classmates (different classmates, you have to spread the love). I felt embarrassed, sheepish and was quite apologetic.

As I took Ella out to the car, I asked her if she had gotten in trouble, and she told me that she had, and for biting. So we talked about how we don't bite our friends. We also went to the library and checked out a book that we had looked at before, Teeth are not for Biting , along with companion books, Hands are not for Hitting, and Feet are not for Kicking. We read each of the books last night and again this morning. I don't know how much Ella understood, but I guess that at least we're trying. On the way to school we talked about how we act with our friends, not hitting, pushing, kicking or biting, but instead sharing our toys and playing. What else is a parent supposed to do? And how many more playmates will my daughter abuse?

I am sure that Ella will grow out of this stage, but in the meantime, it leaves me feeling inadequate as a parent :(