A certain amount of sibling rivalry is very normal. In fact, recently we've been looking in to this issue to figure out what is normal, what is not, and when parents should let their children just battle it out. Today, Parents Ask expert Dr. Ann Corwin, The Parenting Doctor, answers this question:

Q: What is an appropriate consequence when my toddler hits or bites his younger sibling?



Toddlers biting and hitting is a form of communication, granted not a very good way to express their thoughts and feeling, but for this developmental stage it makes total sense to the toddler. That being said the focus by parents needs to be 'how to teach my child to communicate properly rather than what consequence to give them for misbehaving.

So when the hit or bite happens IMMEDIATELY stop looking at the toddler, don,t talk to them, turn them facing away from you and remove them! This shows them that there is no communicating when they hit or bite. Then, most importantly, after it is all over don't talk about hitting and biting and how bad it is...just look for where your child is communicating properly and pay attention to that!