In Junior High I had to take a shower with the group...no swimsuits, nothing and we had to drop our towel get in and get out. The idea that showering (in the group) promotes cleanliness is way off base as I experienced it...NO one even used soap. We were too intent on getting out clothes back on. And YES the gym teacher stood at the shower and made sure everyone got "wet"...in fact she had a clipboard to make off names as we went in. So, part of our grade was whether or not we "got wet." No one learned anything about being clean...in fact one girl in school smelled terrible every day, and the required "shower" didn't help at all. It was embarrassing to every one of us, and at the worse possible time in our lives, when our bodies were changing. We teach our children to say "NO" to anyone who makes them feel uncomfortable, yet some states still "require" showering in the nude with your classmates?!? For an example I once worked at a high end clothing store in Calif. where instead of individual dressing rooms, they had one big dressing room. Often when I took someone back to try on clothes, they were shocked and left (without buying anything) rather than take off their clothes in a 'group setting>" These were women who could keep their underwear on and they were still uncomfortable. So why wouldn't our children also be uncomfortable? I was and many student are too. Someone said it didn't "hurt" them...well, how do you know? How do you measure that? If it hurts one child, and it certainly looks like a lot more than one, why force something like nudity? I think children are vulnerable and easily influenced and most are also very self conscious. Once again it goes back to how you were raised and I think it's definitely a topic that requires individual views, but no one has the right (in my eyes) to force a child into being naked.

Your first obligation is the safety of your family. It sounds like the aggression is not only food-related situations. From your post it sounds as if the aggression is not something that only occurs infrequently. It doesn't really matter why Belle is exhibiting this behavior, what matters is what you do about it. Scolding her and sending her to her crate is not going to stop the behavior. Life is hard and you have to do what is best for everyone. Perhaps Belle would be better off with an owner who lives alone. I have an old gal who has "bitten" two children at my home. She bit the first at about age 6 when she began having problems with pain from hip dysplasia. These two incidents were precipitated by the kids teasing my old gal (still not acceptable). Old gal has never broken the skin on a person, she just gives a warning bite when she's had enough. She has never shown agression toward myself, DH or my daughter. If she had shown any aggression to my daughter, she would have been rehomed. I would not put up with that worry of not knowing if and when she would bite again. My gal has been with me since she was 3 months old and was rescued by me from an abusive home 12 yrs. ago. We have made every accommodation so as not to put any child at risk. We have locked old gal up when children were visiting, etc. The last incident was about 5 yrs ago. We had a family over for a bbq and swimming in the pool. Old gal knows that when there is company at the pool, she won't be swimming. All 3 dogs were in the yard, occasionally running up and down the fence line while we were in the pool. My friend's son kept putting his arm through the fence gate teasing with old gal. She just gave a bite on the top of his arm. No skin broken, but I was very concerned about the child and my old gal. I feel the parents weren't watching the child, but on the other hand, I should have been in control of my dog. She has never since been in a room with a child unaccompanied. This particular child had a small bruise on his upper arm. I felt as did the child's parents that if my old gal really wanted to, she could have torn the child's arm off before we could be up out of a chair and to the situation. She gave a warning bite and let go. (still not a great scenario) My nephew and neice 9 and 6 have been around old gal since they were babies and they know not to sit on her or tease her. There have never been any incidents with them. It seemed to be a stranger thing. Kids who were not common to our house. I did have our trainer come over and work with old gal after the last incident. This was about 5 yrs ago we started working with her again. We went back to her initial training and started reinforcing her with the common commands, sit, stay, come, etc. The trainer did comment that old gal was picking up on my anxiety about the children visiting and I needed to change some of my behavior when people visited with children. I haven't had anymore incidents, but I will say that the kids are older now that come to the house. There seems to be a problem with a certain size/age children with dogs that bite. They feel threated for some reason. A pack thing apparently as explained by the vet. I don't know how old your daughter is, or your dog (what breed), but I don't think I would keep Belle. You were very lucky that she didn't bite your daughter's face. She may not, but then again, there are no guarantees with a dog that bites. The aggression shown by Belle is directed at your husband and child (living in the house full time). I just wouldn't take the chance. I knew my old gal hadn't shown any aggression toward any of us and has never made any signs of aggression toward any extended family member. I guess what I am saying is - do you want to worry about your daughter's well being constantly? You also have to worry about anytime she may have a friend visit. It is a difficult situation to deal with. If you cannot make it 100 percent safe for your daughter and any other person visiting your home, you need to seriously think about finding a new home for Belle. Have you spoken to a professional about this behavior? There are alot of behavior specialists who you could consult for answers to what is best. I wish you the best of luck. I haven't been exactly where you have been since old gal hasn't ever been aggressive with DD, but I have experienced another parent's anxiety when old gal did her warning bite. Not good.

I'm in year 5 of dealing with a BM that would do a lot of what you describe. She thought she could decide everything that happened in our house during the time HER daughter was there because everything we did when her daughter was there, affected her daughter. Since you are in a relatively new situation & it most likely will only get worse... unless she finds a new purpose, my suggestion is to remove yourself as much as you can from the entire situation. Do not attend exchanges & do not take any phone calls, including "emergency" calls. What kind of emergency would there be that you might get a call? If the kids are with you & DH, then anything she needs can go to DH's phone/voice mail. If the kids are with her, then she can just as easily leave a message on DH's phone if he can't answer it. I'm assuming the only reason she would call your phone is if DH doesn't answer his & you are together. If you are not together, calling you does nothing to get any message to DH... unless you have a secret number to call him and/or want to play middleman. But really, there is no reason for you to be involved in the exchanges or phone calls. If he wasn't with you (or anyone), he would have to handle this on his own.... so let him. Take your kids to the park, get your nails done, take a bubble bath & watch a movie.... but leave it all up to him. Trust me, not seeing her or talking to her will help a lot. And tell your DH to only tell you important things regarding the kids... like if they are in a school play, etc. Ask him to not share her rants about you and your kids unless it's something HE is concerned about. HER concerns, rational or not, he should discuss with her. If HE thinks they are irrational, why get you worked up by telling you? That creates unnecessary drama. It's very sad when someone uses their child to get attention or maintain a connection or involvement, but they do and there's NOTHING you can do about it. It is THEIR child they are hurting and the best thing you can do, for you and for the child, is to remove yourself as much as possible & let his/her parents sort it out. Unless you have done something to warrant her treatment of you, then it wouldn't matter WHO he is dating/married to, it is not personal toward you. It is HER problem.

I am so glad I grew up during a time before the information age. How ever did my generation even survive? Today's generation is so anxious about every little thing. We have all sorts of anxieties cropping up regarding everything from the food we eat to the water we bathe in. Crazy. All these reports do is promote anxiety issues among the general public. What is seldom mentioned in restaurant reports is that most violations are handled in a matter of minute or less than a day. Often it is simply something like an empty soap dispenser or a lack of clean bar towels when the inspector comes by. But that gets classified under some scary sounding violation. Boom the dispenser is filled and the towel delivery arrive and they are back in compliance. Same with pools. There is no possible way to keep the PH levels constant in any pool much less a public one and that seems to be the most common violation. Then thier is the let's scare the bejeezus out of the public with the math. Yeah. Around 12% of the pools had to be closed. For how long? 30 minutes? A hour? A few days? A week? Forever? I agree that neighborhood (HOA) /motel and other semi public pools are riskier than a water park pool. Often volunteers or the owners are keeping up the upkeep. People just need to chill a bit. Live life,have fun and take Google and the mass media with a grain of salt. A whole salt block would be better.