Tips for Daycare Staff and Parents for Toddlers Who Bite

Biting is one of the most common causes of injury in a daycare setting. When you get the call that your child has been biting children in daycare, you may feel worried that your child will be harshly reprimanded or asked to leave the center. If you are the parent of child who has been bitten, your concern is the safety of your child and how proactive the center is when it comes to preventing biting at daycare. Here are some tips for both parents and daycare staff for handling the situation.

Offer Comfort to the Victim

During an incident involving children biting in daycare, separating and disciplining the biter is often the natural response. While it is important to attend to the biter, the victim of the incident will also require immediate attention. As an added benefit, providing positive attention to the victim and soothing the child demonstrates to the biter that biting is not the best option for gaining attention.

Help the Biter Calm Down

Immediately following the incident, a daycare provider should separate the biter to provide the child with the opportunity to calm down and discuss emotions. The American Psychological Association recommends that parents and caregivers speak with the biter to help the child put a label on the emotions that led up to the incident. This allows the child to recognize their feelings and understand that biting is not an acceptable response.

Keep a Log

A daycare biting log is important for documenting incidents and recognizing behavioral patterns. A log should record the time of the incident and the children who were involved in the incident. Any situations that may have triggered biting behavior should be noted in the log. Observations regarding the emotions of the biter, the activities that were occurring in the classroom and the time of day are also helpful.

A biting log also facilitates discussions with parents. Parents may be able to offer insight into how the circumstances of the incident may have been a trigger for their child.

Prevent Future Incidents

When you are dealing with a biting toddler at daycare, using the tips listed above allows you to gather information to prevent future incidents. Discussing emotions with the child and keeping a log allow daycare providers to determine how to avoid exposing the child to stressful or frustrating situations in the future. Recognition of behavior at the beginning of such an incident allows caregivers to intervene and diffuse situations in the future to prevent the incident from escalating.

Toddler biting daycare behavior may be alarming to parents and daycare providers, but the fact is that biting is a common response to stressful situations for many children in this age group. Parents and providers can be proactive about pinpointing triggers for biting behavior and helping children manage stressful situations to eliminate biting incidents.