Biting, biting, biting. All three incident reports Nia racked up in the span of 1 week! I know this is the age they love to sink their teeth into juicy flesh, whether just for kicks (Nia laughs when she tries to bite me and I discipline her with a stern “No!”; or to defend their favorite toy. When I dropped her off one day last week, I walked in just as one of her classmates clamped down on another kid’s arm. How do you deter the biting? Do I just have to wait for her to gradually grow out of it? Was/Is your child a biter?
My mom says she stopped us from biting by biting us. When we found out that being bitten hurt, we didn’t bite anymore. I’m sure it probably sounds cruel in this day and age, but it only took that one time to break us of it. And it didn’t scar us for life, as we all grew up to be peaceful law-abiding and productive citizens.
As the teacher in me says, if they can’t learn through auditory or visual means, they’ll definitely learn through kinesthetic means.
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That’s a hard one. I have a friend who is going through this and I feel greatly for her. My oldest was a hitter and nothing I did or said changed his behavior so I just had to be watchful to get clues for when it might happen. Do they notice a particular event which sets her off- like the wanting the toy or someone taking one from her? I’d work from there and most daycares should have some sort of plan of action to help her through this phase.
Hopefully she gets through it quickly, there’s nothing more mortifying than having your child do this at an age where they can’t really grasp the entire concept of hurting others.
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Her teacher said she’s sweet until someone messes with her or tries to take something from her.
Yesterday, my mom told me Nia is just like I was as a toddler. My mom gave me advice, but it involves spanking and I really don’t want to go that route.
Dara,
I went through this stage with my son. I remember going to a child’s 2nd birthday party and my son biting the birthday boy on the cheek.
I was given the advice to bite him back. I didn’t like the idea at all.
My son was never into parallel play as most children that age are. From the get go he wanted the other kids to play “with” him. I realized the biting was out of frustration. When I figured out why he was biting I started to change who we played with and how many kids at one time. It was amazing how fast it stopped after that.
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thanks for the advice mommies!