A personalized book about hitting & biting, written for your child
Your child hits, bites, or pushes other kids when frustrated, and you live in fear of the next incident report or angry parent.
What this looks like at home
- The daycare called again. Your child bit someone during free play. The other parent is upset. You apologized, hung up, and sat in your car for ten minutes feeling like the worst parent alive. At home, they’re sweet. You don’t understand the disconnect.
- They pushed a kid at the playground yesterday. The other mom gave you a look that said everything. You grabbed your child, left the park early, and spent the drive home oscillating between anger and shame.
- Last week they hit you in the face during a tantrum. It hurt. You held it together in front of them but cried in the bathroom afterward. You’re starting to wonder if something is actually wrong, and that thought scares you.
Why this happens between 3 and 6, in the free parent guide: Why does my child hit and bite?
The daycare called again: biting at school
Incident reports land hard: shame, the other parent’s face, the fear something is wrong. Biting at daycare usually maps to crowding, competition for toys, or big-feeling moments with no words fast enough. It peaks in groups precisely because groups are the hardest arena there is.
Ask the staff WHEN it happens; the pattern (free play? transitions? one particular corner?) is the fix’s address. At home, rehearse the replacement out loud: “teeth stay closed, tell them I’M MAD.” Skills built calmly at the kitchen table show up at school weeks later.
When they only hit you (or only their sibling)
Being the sole target feels personal, and it is, in the safest sense: you’re the person they can fall apart on without losing anything. Siblings get it as the nearest peer with the most contested resources.
The response doesn’t change for love: catch the arm mid-swing, “I won’t let you hit,” flat and calm, every single time. Consistency is the entire message. And tend to the hit sibling first; attention flowing to the victim quietly rewires what aggression earns.
Still hitting at 5 or 6: when it should be fading
Most children trade hitting for words between 3 and 5, as language and brakes come online. If the trade isn’t happening, look at the inputs first: sleep, structure changes, a new sibling, screen-heavy evenings, and whether the hitting reliably works (gets the toy, gets the audience).
Consistent calm handling usually bends the curve within weeks. If aggression stays frequent across settings despite it, or injures others regularly, bring the pattern to your pediatrician; that’s what they’re for, and early support does real work.
What helps at home, in short
- Block first, talk second
- Keep the script three words long
- Give the feeling a legal exit
- Tend to the bitten first
- Hunt the pattern
Each of these is unpacked, step by step, in the guide: Why does my child hit and bite?
How an Ownway story helps
Ownway turns hitting & biting into a story where your child is the hero. It’s written from scratch around their name and their world, so the feeling becomes something they can look at from the outside — and find words for. Inside the printed book, a short guide for you turns the story into a few simple things to try together. It won’t replace professional support, but for a lot of families it’s a gentle place to start.
$32.99
A 32-page printed picture book, for ages 3–6 · You’ll see the cover and the first scenes before you decide.
Questions parents ask
Can a story help a child who hits?
Stories give the feeling a name and the hands a script — at a safe distance from the real moment. A story where your child is the hero whose storm rises and who finds another way through it becomes a shared reference you can summon at the trigger point: “big feeling coming — what did the hero do?”
Are the story and the illustrations really unique to my child?
Yes. Every book is written and illustrated from scratch around your child — their name, their character, and the exact challenge they’re facing. Nothing is pulled from a template, and no two books are ever alike.
What age is this for?
Ownway Stories are written for children ages 3 to 6 — the age when big feelings arrive faster than the words to describe them.
How long does delivery take?
Each book is printed on demand and typically arrives within about 7–10 business days. We currently ship within the US only. You choose your shipping speed at checkout.
Parents also work on
Facing something else? See all 16 challenges · Prefer to read first? Browse the free parent guides.