Biting and Strategies to Help the Children

[grateday]

I don't know what to think about this and feel free to offer your opinion here.
I had a child bite another child over a physical trigger over a toy.
They are both at the age of "mine"
I have been over social emotional, I have gone over sharing, but I am going to have to strategize here.

The bite was minimal as it usually is but it just makes me feel angry. Not at the children but because it happened.

I have a small group 5-6 children at a time. Transitioning is when it occured.

I did not have gates on the two rooms with activities/toys but I am now going to .

But the other thing that bothers me is that what if those gates are up and I am doing everything I can and the child still bites.

It is like when I am there she won't try because my presence indicates that she can come to me.

It is when the two strong tempermented ones get into it. One tries to use that as the overpowering "oh yeah"

The parent has experience with children and I totally trust that she is working on it at home. She has no control over what her kid does.

I wish I could let the other family know that the other family is working on it. But there mindsets are so opposite and I don't want to go into so much detail but if it happens all the time and it gets out of control

I worry about liability, families reporting.

I really want to help this child who is biting at the same time I don't want victims and issues..........

What has your experience been in helping a child who bites out of leadership and dominance?

You cannot take the leadership feelings out of a child but at the same time how can you teach them a more constructive way to handle there need to have the power?

[Michael]

We have lots for threads on biting: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=biting

It happens in all daycare.

Very young children are often biters not so much out of anger but out of frustration at not being able to speak. They know they are supposed to use their mouths, so they use them differently. Generally, biting clears up when a child can make his/her needs known in language.

Here is one course of action that is effective with children under three. One teacher is assigned to "shadow" the biter. If one teacher is with that child constantly, it is very often possible to restrain the biter when you see him/her getting ready to bite. Then you repeat the rule -"We do not bite. We use words." (If the child has no words, you can say them yourself. "I know you're angry because you can't use that toy right now, right? But you cannot bite for ANY reason.")

Then you can remove the child from the situation if it is warranted. Sometimes, if you've stopped the bite before it's occurred, the child can continue to play.

Now, this works only if the child is watched CONSTANTLY, which is a very difficult task. It's best to have teachers take turns being the shadow. If you have the luxury of enough teachers, however, this is an effective method of helping a biter to stop biting and start talking.