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When Tots Bite
Curbing Toddler Biting
By Judy Molland
Elston went straight to preschool administrators and was reassured when they explained that if the child were to bite again, he would be expelled. And in this case, with no skin broken, there was no question of any major health risk. "But biting is different from when another child pushes or hits your child," Elston adds. "It seems like so much more of a premeditated act."
Instead, she suggests that if your child bites another child, you should first give the attention to the child who has been bitten. This will make it clear that biting is not a good way to get attention. In Murkoff's daughter's case, "the other child got the attention, which sort of caused the whole thing to backfire," explains Murkoff. "Since a very young toddler really doesn't understand that other people have feelings, it's the parent's job to explain that."
Tracey Porter, from Los Angeles, Calif., describes her experience dealing with her son Sam's tendency to bite as "horrifying." When Sam was two, he went through a biting episode for about three months. During that time, he occasionally bit other children, with maybe three or four incidents altogether. "Sam never bit Sarah, his older sister, or us -- his biting only came out at daycare," Porter says.