Biting at Daycare at 30 Months

I had to laugh when you said you tried talking to him. He will retain very little other then it is not okay. I watch little boys so I know from experience. When he is older you can explain you understand his frustration and validate it however give very clear rules of what is appropriate as far as expressing it.

I don't agree he saw someone else do it necessarily and I don't agree sign language is going to help him at daycare if the other kids don't know what he is doing. Kids lash out when upset at this age, either with hands, fits, biting, legs or whatever as they don't have the words to use when they are upset.

I would have consequences for him at home as well inform daycare to have them too. Remove him from the situation and put him in time out alone. He will get it eventually.

Boys lean more to being agressive and physical when upset or frustrated, teaching self control takes patience and time but to be honest he does not have what it takes to "talk to him" about it. I can talk to my almost five year old son and at some point they just look at you like they are so over what you are saying. hee hee, we call it selective hearing. I have him repeat back to me what I said too so I know he heard me. The best way now is to give very simple and clear rules/consequences. We do not bite! We be nice to our friends. If you hurt your friend you will be in time out!

Set him off by himself for three minutes...then when you get him from time out remind him what he did and it is not okay, then thank him for doing his time out. It doesn't matter if he is fighting back, the teacher should be aware of when it is happening and try to intervene before it esculates.

Make sure you are consistent with the daycare too. If you both have the same consequence he will get it faster!!!

Biting can leave serious marks and some parents could raise a stink about their children coming home with bite marks not to mention if it continues they can remove your son from the daycare. I witnessed this first hand when I worked in a daycare center.

M.- Toddlers often bite out of frustration. Are his verbal skills good? We teach our toddlers simple sign language in my child care. Sometimes this helps. Ask the care providers to keep a log of the situations/ times of day/ etc..

Other reasons could be..tired, hungry, bored, hot, crowded...

I know as a parent you feel so embarrased when your child bites, but it is normal!

Good luck!

They probably saw another child use biting to get their way, and at this age it is a normal part of development.

I would try to redirect and move the child to another area with another set of toys.

I have personally found that time out up to this age is NOT till the timer goes off, which is a power struggle, but when the child is ready to come back and participate with out what ever it was that they did that was inappropriate.

I too use sign language and have less problems because of it.

S.
mother to Kai
www.HomeWithKai.com

you may not have to worry about this as much as you think. it is pretty common for his age and the situation. they see other kids in school/child care bite and they try it when they get frustrated. it doesn't necessarily become a habit, especially if they are disciplined quickly for it. i'm not saying it's just a phase for every biter-- some kids really do bite a lot. but it is common for kids to experiment with biting a few times at his age and then not do it again. my most "spirited" child is my oldest and even at 5 he tries to bite me on rare occasions when he is crazy with hunger and frustration, but it's not common and it's been years since he bit another child. talking with your son about proper ways of expressing his feelings is very important, so good job! you'll have to do it again and again for years, so be patient about it.