How much biting do you tolerate in toddler room?

Re: How much biting do you tolerate in toddler room?

• FemShep member

  February 2014

  Toddlers bite.  There's no way around it.  As long as you feel they're handling it appropriately, with good communication to you, shadowing as needed, etc., it wouldn't bother me.

  
  

  With DD1, she got bitten a few times, and she was the biter a few times as well.  Our DC took the same steps yours did (letting me know what happened, protecting the identity of the biter, shadowing as needed), and the stage quickly passed, thank goodness.

  

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• jlaOK member

  February 2014

  I wouldn't necessarily be concerned with the number of biting incidents that happen in the room but how each is handled.  As long as the daycare has a plan in place (and changes plan as necessary) to help monitor and redirect the biters to help reduce incidents, I would continue to tolerate biting.  Now, if my child got bit 3+ times in a short amount of time I would meet with the teacher and director to make sure it was being properly taken care of.
  

  

                                                

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• snicksnack member

  February 2014

  My nephew bites and my son and daughter both got it while my mil was watching them he also got them with me there he was fast I finally packed my kids up and left because I was tired of it and there was nothing we could do to stop him.  I did notice after the incident my son started trying it so my guess is they are learning from each other.  With daycare I don’t think there is much you can do I had it happen on my watch and we were watching closely.  I would be upset if they did not tell me but sounds like they are following procedure.  <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

  

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• SunAndRain member

  February 2014

  I tolerate a lot more than what you've described!

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• cecilyandgautam member

  February 2014 edited February 2014

  I'm not sure what constitutes "tolerating" biting, but I get a readout on biting at least once a week - almost always the same toddler, same issues, some reaction. Most weeks it's a thwarted attempt but there have been bad weeks where the kid manages to sneak in a bite when the adults in the room are occupied. She's a smart kid and knows exactly what she's doing and she's even bitten my kid right in front of me. I wouldn't say my reaction was one of tolerance, but anyway . . . I focus my attention on how it was handled. Was the biter told "no" and that biting is not okay? Was the biter given a time out or otherwise disciplined in some way that gets the point across? Were the other parents told what happened and is there some kind of coordinated response between home & daycare? If this is an on-going issue, is the kid with the propensity to bite shadowed and proactively reminded to use words to express feelings? Is the common cause of the conflict (ie - the sharing of toys, food snatching) being handled differently in order to minimize conflicts?

  
  

  Biting is normal, so some is to be expected, but I wouldn't be pleased if DCP's only response is to fill out an incidence report.

  

  
  

  
  

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• aglenn member

  February 2014

  For a while in the toddler room DS was getting bitten a LOT (at least 2-3x a week for a month or two, most of the bites were hard enough to leave very clear bruises but didn't break the skin).  It was stressful for me, but the teachers were handling it appropriately and it did eventually settle down.  They talked with us about it a lot and let us know what they were doing.  Part of the problem was that the biter was actually one of DS's best little buddies and this was happening when they were playing together and the child was not angry/upset, so it was hard to predict and also hard to keep them separated.  I agree with the others that your day care should be willing to talk to you about what is happening and how they're addressing it, and as long as you are comfortable with that there is not much else to do except realize that this too shall pass.
  

  

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