Biting in daycare is a common occurrence and a concern among daycare providers and parents. A daycare owner asked: “ I have a child that is turning two soon. He won’t quit biting the children that are younger than him. He has bitten hard enough to draw blood. I need suggestions on how to stop this, the mom doesn’t seem to care, but I don’t want to lose other kids. I have a parent that is very heated with the mark on her sons face”.
We asked the fans of OwnADaycare on Facebook who are daycare owners for their suggestions. Here are some of the best responses: For tips on handling biting in your daycare, see: How to Control Biting in Daycare
- If the parents are not helping then you might need to consider terminating their care. For the safety of your daycare business and the other kids!
- He is still one; and one year olds do not yet have the communication skills yet to verbalize their frustration. I have three one year olds and oh my are my hands full because I am teaching them to use their words “no” “please move” etc. but to kick a child out for biting when they are one is not right. Yes, you have to keep the other kids safe BUT, they have to learn, they are only doing what is natural for a one year old and early twos as well.
- Tell the mom that you can’t watch him anymore. If she doesn’t care then there’s nothing you can do. Don’t set yourself up to lose other kids.
- Just went through the same problem put him on a time out but the parents are on board also it makes it easier we keep on reminding him that he don’t bit his friends and so does the mom when she picks him up ask him if he did and when she drops him off reminds him to be good and not to bit so far so good one weeks no problem
- If the parent of the biting child isn’t willing to help or even concerned, you need to work on terminating their care. You can terminate on the spot due to “not a good fit”, “hurting other children” or whatever you want to say. Or if you want to try to work with the child, document each instance in writing and make his parent sign it each time. Tell his parent – “Three strikes, you’re out.” That may make them more willing to work with you.
- Biting is grounds to dismiss in many centers. You could try to see what triggers the biting: boredom, anger, frustration, fear, ect. Then maybe you can prevent or address the trigger.
- If the parents dont care or willing to help correct the situation then your only option may be termination.I would not keep a child in my daycare that continues to hurt others like that.Leaving the whole mouth mark and drawing blood is too much.
- Biting is a no go here. Especially if the parents are not willing to work on it. I have called parents to pick up a bitter. A couple of times and they get the message or they are terminated. I have gotten several children from other daycares where they were being bitten and left. So you really risk losing the other families and then being left with the biter.
- When a kid bites I send them home immediately. That will make mom care if she has to come pick him up. You will lose other clients if the kids are being hurt- I’d pull my kid out.
- You could keep a log of when he bites as often times there is a bite pattern that you can recognize and that will help you in your intervention to prevent future bites. I know it is hard and very frustrating especially when the parents get mad but that’s when we have to educated the parents and teach the children.
- I just thru something similar… Terminating is the only way to go IF the parent does not cooperate with you. When my Lil one bit I took care if the one bitten the biter had to help make them feel better then bio boo reports n text messages… went out to parents. I reminded my buyer parent that it’s just a phase and hopefully he will be out of it soon. And I told my other parents thank you for understanding while we help (so n so) get thru this. Most of my parents were very understanding and said that their child bit too They still got upset when their child came home with mouth prints in them but they understood. I also sang a song all day long (off n on). Teeth are not for biting teeth are not for biting no bite no bite. Or something like that. I can’t remember the tune.
- The child is nearly 2 and the parents are not helping. Unless she is able and willing to sit with him until this passes and he stops, she is setting herself up for problems with other parents and more children getting hurt. Most of us said she might need to CONSIDER terminating care. If she has done everything else she can and has no support from the parents, then it may need to be CONSIDERED!!!!
- Biting is usually a phase and they will outgrow it, in the meantime try to find out when he is biting, what sets him off, if you can’t really see a reason, you’ll have to keep him with you when you can’t be in the play area so you are right there to intervene. ie: high chair or play pen when you are cooking etc.
- I had a perpetual biter also and unfortunately termination is the only option if the parents are unwilling to work with you. One biter sets the example for all the others and it just goes from there goodluck i know how troubling this can be!
- Have you tried letting him just play with the older children, or putting him in a play yard or playpen, until his teeth come in. if nothing works i think termination is the only way to keep the other children safe.
- At one years of age, it’s a developmental issue rather than a behavioral one. That doesn’t mean it should just be ignored of course. I would talk with the parents and let them know that while it IS a developmental issue you a…re concerned about losing other families and try to come up with some strategies. If they are still unconcerned and unwilling to work on addressing the issue then I would tell them that you have to use a “3 strikes and you are out” approach. If they are willing to work on it then I would probably not terminate (even after 3 strikes) as long as a concerted effort is being made to work on curbing the biting. My guess is they will get concerned and work on it if they know it could mean termination!
- I made a rule in my daycare 28 yrs. ago when I started, if they bite and I’m talking 2yrs old and older that if the parents don’t care and will not work with me they are gone. No one pays me to have their kid abused. If I feel that we can turn this around by being on the same page they get 2 warnings and then I terminate.
- You are responsible for the safety of all the kids. If you don’t want to terminate him, then you must watch him closely at all times. I have one and I never take my eyes off him. When he gets angry I diffuse situations right away and then tell him “no bite”. Then put him in his bed. He is learning and the other day he bit a chair so he has learned but he still got the, “no bite” and time out. No bite means no bite at all.
- I have had to deal with this on several occasions and it is very stressful for everyone involved. What ended up working for me was if the child bit once and broke the skin he got sent home, if he did not break the skin, the … parents were called. If he bit again in the same week he would be sent home but could return the following day as usual. If after sending him home once, they would be on the 3 strikes you’re out rule. Once I implemented this rule my biter stopped after being sent home 1 time. They didn’t like the punishment (non abusive) that dad gave.
- Something else to consider is the liability you might face now that it has been recorded that this child has bitten other children on several occasions. If this child severely injuries another child in your care you could be on the hook for improper supervision. In court the family would claim, “But you knew this was a problem… and you didn’t do anything about it?”
- I have a biting policy- after 3 bites the child is dismissed. It’s very important to have this in place before you begin enrolling so that you can go over the policy with the parent(s) before they enroll. That way they are aware of all of your policies and procedures. So when something happens and you have to talk with the parents, they already know what to expect. Keep all incident reports; give copies each time to parents. Also need to see when this is happening, is it the same time, same child.
- In my experience, there are some children you can work with and they will only bite a few times, sometimes just once. There are others who you will not be able to take your eyes off for a second. I had one little girl that was just as cute and sweet as could be, but there was another little girl that she kept biting. It wasn’t that she was mad, sometimes she was very excited. I had nine children enrolled at the time with one assistant. We did all the things we could think of to make it work. Personally, I believe in dealing with behaviors at child care, at child care and not have parents handing out consequences for behavior done child care when they get home. Yes, you want their support, and this Mom was very supportive. The little girl (2ish) was just too overwhelmed with so much going on. Mom found another home care with only 4 children and she did much better. She did bite a couple times, but that was it. Biting is a tough one. It brings out strong emotions from everyone. Do what you can to make the situation work, but if it doesn’t sometimes you do just have to let them go.
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