This article will discuss why some children in school bite and how to react to this. Preschool teachers and daycare providers have difficulty in dealing with biting issues.First and foremost is to know and understand the reasons why children bite others whether it be other child or an adult.
Dr. Norman E. Hoffman’s book entitled; Bad Children Can Happen to Good Parents, gives a good explanation on the reasons why children bite. Dr. Hoffman is a highly respected psychotherapist and a certified counselor of mental health. He explained in his book that children tend to bite because of anger, frustration, or to attempt to get control over somebody. Another possible reason might be that a child feels frightened, tired, or powerless. The author also claimed that some children might be seeking attention from parents, daycare provider or another child.
Dr. Carl Arinoldo said the biting of a child is another type of behavior (oral) that oftentimes persist at the age of two. Dr. Arinoldo is an expert in parenting and the author of the book entitled; Essentials of Smart Parenting: Learning the Fine Art of Managing Your Children. He also said that biting normally subsides at the age of three. But beyond that age and the child is still biting frequently, this means there is a behavioral disorder.
This biting must be properly responded to by the person in-charge in daycare especially if there are other children involved.
Can biting be prevented?
According to Dr. Hoffman, the child must not be punished if he bites because he might be still learning how to bite and he needs practice. Furthermore, there are still no strategies provided by researches on how to prevent biting. Then even if biting is difficult to avoid, the childcare provider have the control to handle the biting incidence.
How to React to Biting Issues
Dr. Arinoldo said that it is a must for involved adults not to react violently on biting. He said that by reacting that way, you just aggravate the situation and worsen the habit instead.
Dr. Arinoldo further said that providers must let the child know that it is inappropriate to bite so it must be avoided. A firm statement saying to the child that he must not bite can lessen the incident. He said that by highlighting the good thing the child has done can distract his attention on biting.
Furthermore, Dr. Hoffman advised that the provider must let the “biter” help in treating his “victim”. Show him the destruction he had done and firmly tell him that that is the effect of his act so it must not be done. The provider must also protect the one bitten to avoid future similar incidence. It will help, according to Dr. Hoffman, to isolate the biter from other children until he realized what he had done wrong.
Take note that never bite back on a child to stop his biting act and both of the experts agree on this. Again, you just aggravate the situation.
Dr. Arinoldo warned that it is a must to prevent the progress of the biting habit of a child so those who are in-charge, whether it be parents, providers, or teachers, have to address the problem as soon as possible. Dr. Hoffman further said that adults must be firm and consistent to correct the child and teach them to express what they feel rather that biting.
As a conclusion, it must be remembered that the issue on biting is sensitive for the child and provider. The success in dealing with this incident depends on how the adults react in a constructive way and not hurting the child.
For more see: How to start a day care
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