Spencer has a habit of biting. It is getting better, but he still bites or at least he pretends to bite. Lately he has decided to run around chomping his teeth when he is mad or angry at Livi (or me or luke). I have told Livi to do one of the following:
1.) Push him enough to get away and RUN!
2.) Yell and run and get me.
Apparantly she didn't get the memo because I caught HER biting Spencer on the cheek today and she left quite the mark. **I'll take pictures after his nap**
Needless to say, do you have any parenting tips on how to STOP the biting? I know some moms bite back, but honestly, what kind of message would I be sending my child if I BITE him/her?
PLUS, when the Social Service worker comes to take my kids and sees MY TEETH marks on them, how am I supposed to explain it? ;)
1.) Push him enough to get away and RUN!
2.) Yell and run and get me.
Apparantly she didn't get the memo because I caught HER biting Spencer on the cheek today and she left quite the mark. **I'll take pictures after his nap**
Needless to say, do you have any parenting tips on how to STOP the biting? I know some moms bite back, but honestly, what kind of message would I be sending my child if I BITE him/her?
PLUS, when the Social Service worker comes to take my kids and sees MY TEETH marks on them, how am I supposed to explain it? ;)
17 comments:
None of my kids have ever really been biters (knock on wood!), but I have heard of parents putting hot sauce in the kids mouth every time they bite. Don't know if it works though! I know Emma likes hot sauce so that technique wouldn't work for her, but hmmm... I don't know! Good luck!
Sometimes all of Porter's energy and excitement comes out in a bite! We do the naughty stair. I'll be reading other people's comments for hints for myself!!
With really little kids I've seen the mom put pepper on their tongue or just a grain or two of cayenne pepper (as long as they aren't sensitive to that). I've seen it work really well, and not work so well just depending on the child.
I'm not sure with an older child, such as Livvy, if it would do much good.
But I think ANYTHING is better than biting your kid back. I just don't see how they would ever learn from that.
Don't bite back-that is the most ridiculous way of teaching a kid (in my opinion). It's like when parents hit their kids for hitting another kid. It bugs me. I have never had a biter so I have no words of wisdom. The only thing we do it time outs. Good luck!
I know I'm being politically incorrect, but I have heard that biting back works. I haven't had to use this "method", but I know it's worked for some people...especially because it's such a shock back to the kid that it sends a pretty strong message. That's my 2 cents..... :)
Katie: You'll hate me and all your friends disagree, but here's my experience with biting children. Their cousins won't play with them anymore. (25 years later and they won't visit the main culprit to this day)They terrorize their siblings. You will try everything, including all of the above suggested remedies. Martin's sister's boys were biters, and especially the oldest one was BAD. He's the one who no cousins will even talk to, although he's a great guy since he grew up. Martin's brother got tired of the cousin biting his kids that one day after many many months of trying to deal with it, he bit the kid back, and bit him good! That was the end of that. I would suggest, however, that you try everything possible first. Maybe it has to come from someone other than a parent??
I love you and I'm sooo proud of you. Good luck.
Aunt Eva
You have yourself a little Edward!!!!!
HAHAHA! I heard that you don't actually bite the kid back and it only works when the first start to bite. I guess the "theory" behind it is that the child doesn't know that it causes pain, since they don't feel any while biting. From the look of things I am pretty sure he knows that it hurts when you are on the other side.
Senn doesn't bite yet, but after watching Robin Hood several times in one week started to hit. We nipped it in the bud (especially with a new baby coming) by telling her if she did it again, she would have to go to her bed...then holding her to it. She would cry & cry and at first it was so sad, but she hasn't hit in weeks. Whatever you decide to do, BE CONSISTENT!
You have a lot of good advice, so I may be repeating what some others have said. But choose a punishment and then follow-through. It has to be a punishment that they don't like. Time-outs sometimes don't work for my kids. I agree with the hot sauce technique - although I used mustard because my kids don't like that. It completely ended Elizabeth's mouthy habits that were starting (name calling, sticking tongue out, etc.) and it did pretty well with Molly's. Molly has had more experiences with mustard than Elizabeth, but I think that is partly because she is younger. Could also have something to do with personality. I highly recommend it, though! Be consistent with it and you should see results soon. If it doesn't work, find something else that you think Spencer will hate that isn't too torturous and do the same thing. And stay calm. Don't get mad or give too much attention to the behavior or else he will repeat the behavior for attention -even though it is negative attention. (This advice comes straight from my dad the psychologist :-)
Savannah is a biter. We have tired everything. My grandmother said that my Dad bit once and she bit him back hard and that was the end of that. I tired to bite her but it didn't work. I think that technique only works with the first time biter. I have enjoyed reading your comments because I have been looking for some more ideas. We tried Tabasco sauce on her tounge, but that didn't work either, she liked it too much. She gets put on Time-outs for biting. Her biting has slowed down a bit but she continues to do it when she gets very frustrated or upset at someone. But we are consistent on the Time outs and then we have a little talk and she says sorry. Good Luck!
Oh, James had a small biting phase but I don't know how we got him to stop. I think we were lucky he did stop. Maybe since Livi did bite him he'll see that it doesn't feel good. Livi is older and it'll probably be easier to get her to stop.
doble is the exact same way. Lil E went to the doctor the other day with a bite bruise on his arm. I was so embarrassed after she pointed it out.
HOLY COW!!!! I seriously can't believe that! Yeah, none of my kids.....so far....have been biters. But I've still got another baby to raise, so maybe he will be. HE BETTER NOT THOUGH. So, anyway, you figure it out and if Charlie is a biter, then I'll be calling you. =)
Hi Kirkhams! I haven't been to your blog in awhile. Are you having baby #3?!
What is happening to induce the biting? Is he getting angry and doesn't know how to tell that person what makes him sad? Teach him what to do INSTEAD if biting. Like something he could say instead of biting. It may take some patience and a few more bites, but this is what I think...
Sometimes we tell children what they AREN'T supposed to do, but then don't tell them what they ARE supposed to do when a certain situation arises. I know, I'm not a parent...but that is my advice...
Oh and one more thing...DO NOT BITE BACK! I agree with you when you said what kind of message you send to your children. That's my opinion. :0) Happy Thanksgiving!
Owie! We institute the naughty chair. Seems to work with one but not the other child. Good luck with this as every child is different and takes their own style of parenting.
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