Play Pens..Lets Discuss

[MunchkinWrangler]

I think the basis of childcare includes diving into why is the child biting and the responsibility of us providers to be able to have control of our charges as well being constructive in correcting the behavior.

Yes, biting can be 'normal' for some children developmentally but there is always a reason. I refuse to believe that it just happens. I personally agree with Blackcat that this is not normal as not every child does it and it is a behavior issue that needs to be controlled. If a child is hurting other children that are in my care, I would send the child home. Period.

The child in question is being allowed to do this or being given opportunities to bite. It's not cute. It's a problem. Of course dcm's will brush it off, while they are finding other care or reporting you behind your back.

Not to mention that a human bite, medically, is perceived as worse than a bite from an animal because there are many bad infections that can be spread, especially from a bite that breaks the skin. This should be handled appropriately not laughed off or given a big oh well. What would you do if it was your child being bitten? I wouldn't be the type of mother to just let it go. I would seriously question the type of care my child was receiving and would pull immediately.

[Missy Poo]

First of all, we are NOT taking this lightly. We have an inexperienced staff on this matter and we're doing the best we can. I came on here to try to get some advice and I guess I am wasting my time. All of our kids come from troubled homes from the biter whose pregnant mom is trying to get off of meth to a 8 year old who has to run and hide every time the doorbell rings, which is mom's doing by the way, and not to mention the heartbreak of watching a mom getting her baby taken from her and so forth.

We are a non profit daycare so we can't afford to hire more experienced people, so we have to rely on ourselves to solve issues like these. Yes,we agree kids safety comes first. We just need some input, or maybe this isn't the right place to come to.

To OP, sorry I did not mean to highjack your thread. This got a little out of hand, I feel like I am getting a little bullied here.

[Blackcat31]

First of all, we are NOT taking this lightly. We have an inexperienced staff on this matter and we're doing the best we can. I came on here to try to get some advice and I guess I am wasting my time. All of our kids come from troubled homes from the biter whose pregnant mom is trying to get off of meth to a 8 year old who has to run and hide every time the doorbell rings, which is mom's doing by the way, and not to mention the heartbreak of watching a mom getting her baby taken from her and so forth.

We are a non profit daycare so we can't afford to hire more experienced people, so we have to rely on ourselves to solve issues like these. Yes,we agree kids safety comes first. We just need some input, or maybe this isn't the right place to come to.

To OP, sorry I did not mean to highjack your thread. This got a little out of hand, I feel like I am getting a little bullied here.

You didn't post asking for advice. You simply stated you had a biter that bite the SAME child 4x's before you finally decided to separate him from others. There is nothing in your post asking advice for anything.

When I reacted/responded to your statment you came back at me as if I was over reacting...that shows you arent taking this matter very seriously at all. Then when others shared their concern, you get upset and start implying this isnt the right place to get the help you need...

Inexperienced staff, troubled families and doing the best you can are excuses... You still have an obligation to keep the children from physical harm.

Seek the experience, enroll in trainings, find experts who can advise you on how to properly manage safety in care, research solutions, read articles, forums and other sources of education in this area/subject.

Especially if your program serves those that are high risk. In my state those programs/caregivers are required to have double the experience and education than programs that dont cater to high risk families/children. Your program and director has no business having inexperienced or untrained staff providing care to high risk kids if they aren't provided physical safety above all else.

I dont think it takes a lot of training or experience to know that a child that poses a threat to others needs to be separated. Why wait until the 4th time?? Why was he allowed access to the victim after the first incident? That's plain old common sense in my eyes.

If you are seriously asking or looking for advice and/or assistance in solving this issue there are tons of experienced providers on this forum that will happily give you some excellent resources and helpful tricks and tips. The forum is also over flowing with threads about biting. Those threads contain an abundance of useful information.

You need to get past being personally offended when someone questions your current methods or you will never be able to truly help the families in your care.

[MunchkinWrangler]

First of all, we are NOT taking this lightly. We have an inexperienced staff on this matter and we're doing the best we can. I came on here to try to get some advice and I guess I am wasting my time. All of our kids come from troubled homes from the biter whose pregnant mom is trying to get off of meth to a 8 year old who has to run and hide every time the doorbell rings, which is mom's doing by the way, and not to mention the heartbreak of watching a mom getting her baby taken from her and so forth.

We are a non profit daycare so we can't afford to hire more experienced people, so we have to rely on ourselves to solve issues like these. Yes,we agree kids safety comes first. We just need some input, or maybe this isn't the right place to come to.

To OP, sorry I did not mean to highjack your thread. This got a little out of hand, I feel like I am getting a little bullied here.

Nothing I posted was a personal attack on you or anyone on here.

I am truly shocked that this happened with more than one adult available for supervision though.

I didn't read your post as asking for advice either, I was truly trying to help OP. I seen your follow up post as one big eye roll to the other advice given. Therefore your post is being perceived as if you are laughing off a very serious issue. This is the number one problem providers and parents alike deal with. But I received some special training on the topic and have so far only had one biter. So, yeah I don't perceive this as being normal, no matter what type of environment these kids are growing up in. So just because a child grows up in a disadvantaged home that means that they are just unruly children with problems? I just refuse to believe that just because a child is growing up in not the best of situations means that they are just lost causes and it worries me that this is the type of care from a nonprofit that they receive when if anything they need professional and properly trained staff so they can put these kids at an advantage not a disadvantage.

I don't believe you are being bullied but maybe being challenged to explain more of why your post was so flippant. I saw your post as saying that this type of behavior is kids being kids, and it's not. I don't have as much experience as most of these providers do. The ladies and gents on the forum have decades of experience and they absolutely know what they are talking about and run top notch high quality childcares. In my short time that I will be doing this I have changed a lot with my care and continue to do so with the knowledge these women and men have.

This makes me terribly sad and a little outraged.:confused:

[midaycare]

First of all, we are NOT taking this lightly. We have an inexperienced staff on this matter and we're doing the best we can. I came on here to try to get some advice and I guess I am wasting my time. All of our kids come from troubled homes from the biter whose pregnant mom is trying to get off of meth to a 8 year old who has to run and hide every time the doorbell rings, which is mom's doing by the way, and not to mention the heartbreak of watching a mom getting her baby taken from her and so forth.

We are a non profit daycare so we can't afford to hire more experienced people, so we have to rely on ourselves to solve issues like these. Yes,we agree kids safety comes first. We just need some input, or maybe this isn't the right place to come to.

To OP, sorry I did not mean to highjack your thread. This got a little out of hand, I feel like I am getting a little bullied here.

I have had a few biters. Once it was due to issues with the mouth, once due to attention (same kid, once the mouth issues were fixed, he figured he could get a little negative attention this way). Another biter I'm just realizing has some other issues, Aspergers, a light case so to speak.

Once a child bites the first time, they need to be removed from the other kiddos and watched like a hawk. Set up a safe space. This can be gated or non-gated, depending on the age. Kids can be taught not to leave the area without the gate.

Give it some thought today and come up with a plan. Good luck! :hug:

[Rockgirl]

I find it sad that the mom of bitee shrugged it off and said, "It happens." I could be understanding if my child had been bitten once, if a plan had been put in place to prevent a repeat. But four times in a day? Poor kid.

Bullied? No.