Usually I tell parents to try to ignore unwanted bad behaviour in children, but biting is a different matter that can’t be ignored.
I would suggest going down to the children’s level, looking them in the eye and say in a firm voice, “No, that hurts.”
Also remember to reward children when they are playing nicely and not biting, verbal praise for this is great, something along the lines of, ” I really like to see you playing so well with your friends.”
Never be tempted to bite a child back as punishment for biting another child, this will make him think that biting is O.K. because adults do it.
I once heard of a child minder who bite a child back in an attempt to stop it, she thought that biting back would make her realise how much it hurt and prevent her repeating.
She was quite rightly struck off as a child minder (she hurt a child, whatever her reasoning was).
I have also come across a child minder who had problems with a minded child biting other children in her care, imagine how awful she felt sending children home with bite marks!
I remember witnessing a child biting another at a toddler group session. The parent of the bitten child turned on the mother of the biter saying, ” Can’t you control that child of yours?” it wasn’t anyone’s fault, the boy was just going through a horrible phase of biting. I don’t think that they ever came back to the group again.
Be consistent with children who bite, use the same firm words every time it happens so eventually they hopefully get the message that biting is not good and playing nicely brings better results from everyone.
I would like to thank Sarah Wilmot for letting me use photos of her son, Cove, who is NOT a biter.
As always questions/comments are welcome and please share on social media if you think others would benefit from reading this.
Until next time.
Karen
x
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I never had this problem bringing up my children they played well together however I have heard about children doing this. I am glad that I never had to cope with that with my children or thier friends. Interesting subject Karen .
I love your blog! Biting isnt an issue ive had with my own children, but ive had to deal with it with my mindees.
Thanks, let me know if you have any topic suggestions x
Great post. Lovely to hear your experiences. Consistency is definitely key. #GlobalBlogging
Such an important message. My SIL often advised me to “bite back” when my youngest went through this phase, she was a nursery nurse so I found her advise shocking. I never listened and used a firm tone, remained consistent with my disapproval and she soon stopped. #triumphantales
That’s good to hear that my theory was correct, thanks for clarifying x
Oh gosh, I can’t believe anyone would bite someone back. That’s awful and shocking. Lots of praise for lovely playing and interaction, and being consistent in confirming that biting isn’t allowed seems the best way to go. Luckily we’ve never had this issue. Thanks for joining us for the #dreamteam 🙂
Mostly mine have bitten around the teething stage and so I tend to cut the a bit of slack and fortunately the phase passed by not too painfully! #dreamteam
I have a severely autistic grandchild that bites! We’ve learned to be quick to pull away! xx
My eldest used to bite but thankfully my younger two haven’t done it! Thanks for linking up wit #globalblogging