Henry is biting me again and I don’t know what to do about it.  Now, before you think this is a “Fifty Shades” kind of adventure, let me give you a little more information…. Henry is my son, and he is 3 years old at this juncture.  And to throw a fly into the ointment, you need to know that Henry is autistic, but we don’t know this yet.

So, onto the biting.  He’s bit me a couple of times before.  When his older brother John did this (once), I took his little hand, slapped it, and very emphatically said, “NO!”  That was the end of that.  I had tried this with Henry with no success.  So, this time, I searched the memory banks and remembered that somewhere I had read this if you bite your child back (lightly… don’t get excited), they will understand that it hurts and they won’t do it anymore.  So, I bite his chubby little hand….  He stepped back, lowered his head and rammed me in the pelvis!  Direct hit!!

I don’t remember ever reading a chapter in any of the parenting books on kids that don’t respond to what you consider a reasonable response to a situation.  I was trying to navigate through very strange waters without a compass.

There is a happy ending to this story.  Henry is now 18 years old, has been accepted into college and is set (and excited) to leave in the fall.  I hope that our story will help many of you out there who are confused, worried or a little desperate.