Why Children Bite, and What You Can Do about It

From twelve to twenty-four months of age, children may begin to bite. Although biting can be frustrating for both parents and caregivers of children who bite or are being bitten, biting is a normal stage of child development. Not all children are biters, but for those who are, there are ways you can deal with this issue.

Here are some reasons why children bite and suggestions for preventing biting.

Reason – Exploration: children learn through their senses.
Solution – Provide a variety of sensory and motor experiences that stimulate taste, touch, and smell.

Reason – Attention: some children become biters because it gives them the attention they need.
Solution – Give your child lots of positive attention, hugs, and nurturing conversation throughout the day.

Reason – Frustration: toddlers do not have the verbal skills to express their feelings and this leads to frustration. The environment can also be frustrating and lead to biting.
Solution – Help a toddler express feelings through words, and empathize with how the child is feeling. Keep large, open spaces to a minimum and a small number of children per caregiver in each room.

Reason – Teething: infants can begin teething as early as five to six months of age and continue into the toddler years.
Solution – Provide teething toys, clean frozen cloths, or frozen bagels for the toddler to chew. The cold sensation helps ease the pain.

Reason – Anxiety: biting may relieve tension youngsters are feeling.
Solution – Try to understand what the toddler is feeling and validate those feelings. Keep a routine schedule.

Reason – Imitation: children imitate others. If one child is biting, another child may imitate the behavior.
Solution – Model loving, nurturing behavior. Avoid giving too much negative attention to a child who bites.

Reason – Cause and effect: young children are very interested in reactions. They like to see what happens next. Children soon learn that when they bite, they hear a loud scream. Most toddlers are too young to understand they are hurting someone.
Solution – Provide toys which give reactions such as a jack-in-the-box, pop-up toys, squeaking toys, etc.

When a Child Bites
Speak firmly and maintain eye contact. You may say, “We do not allow biting people. If you want to bite, you may bite this (teething toy, frozen cloth, etc.), but you may not bite people.” Make sure to comfort the child that has been bitten, keep ice packs on hand and was the bite with soap and water. Include the biter in the comforting process.

If the biting continues, use the questions below to help you understand reasons why and what you can do.

Where did the biting occur?

Who was involved?

When did the biting occur?

What happened before the biting occurred?

What happened after? How was the situation handled?

Why do you think the biting might be happening?

What can you do to stop the biting from happening again?

This information was developed by The Family Conservancy from a variety of professional resources. This is not a standardized measurement tool.

Inviting Legislators to Visit Your Program

As a child care professional, you are an advocate for young children in your state. One way to “take action” is to contact your state or federal legislators and let them know how you feel about issues related to children. If you have called, you may have felt that the legislator didn’t understand how the issue could affect children.

If you’ve never contacted your Senator or Representative before, the Advocacy section of our website has information about how to find and contact your legislators.

“One of the best ways to help state and federal elected officials understand child care and early education in this country is to show them.” (Exchange 2009) Inviting legislators to visit your program can help them understand what you do, and how important it is to have quality child care facilities.

When legislators come to visit, they learn more than they would if you simply went to their office or talked with them via email or phone. Votes have changed because a legislator actually saw what was needed to maintain quality child care.

Mary Beth Salomone, Policy Director at the Early Care and Education Consortium (ECEC) says, “This is more than just a tour. This is an opportunity to show our elected officials what is really going on out there and what they need to do to create and support good policies. This is a chance for program providers to show that they really know best about what parents, children, and their staff need.” (Exchange 2009).

These visits can be used to share a message about the importance of high quality child care, and about what it takes to provide high levels of quality. The visits can be used to ask for help in areas such the Child and Adult Care Food Program, child care subsidies, how to make quality child care available to more families.

You follow the state rules and regulations in your program every day. You have to educate your staff, provide materials, select curriculum, cover your costs, and manage the program. You know what it takes to make your program a high quality child care facility.

Show the legislators examples of this in your classrooms. Make sure the visits include interactions such as:

Using circle time as a way to involve the visiting legislator. Suggest that he or she pull up a chair and join in the activity.

Invite the legislator at snack time or lunch time, and show him or her that this is an important part of learning and development.

Ask the legislator if he or she would like to read a story to the children.

Use this as a photo opportunity. Snap pictures of the children with the legislator.

The purpose of these visits is to gain support for issues that are important to you. You have invited the legislator to your program because there is something that you want or need him or her to do. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want. This person was elected to serve you and your community!

Check out the ECEC website for a Site Visit Toolbox that can help you get started. It contains a guide to a successful visit, template invitation letters, and ideas for activities. You can get this information at: www.ececonsortium.org

Tips:

Remember that legislators may not be able to give more than 30 minutes to an hour for this visit.

Make sure to pick a day and time that will allow the legislator to see the program in action (when children are awake).

Involve the legislator in activities with the children.

By inviting legislators to visit your early childhood program, you can help members of Congress to see that:

High quality early care and learning programs exist.

The whole childhood from birth through school-age is important.

Play is learning, and child care is more than simply babysitting.

Child care is an important economic activity. Each center is a small business that supports lots of workers – both your own staff and local parents and families. Teachers, staff, and caregivers need and benefit from training and education.
Contact your legislators today about issues that are important to you, and consider inviting them to visit your program and see quality care in action.

Source:
Karolak, E; (2009). Getting legislators out of the statehouse and into your program: Another way to take action! Exchange Magazine, November/December 2009 pp36-38.

Written by: Jacki Turner, Referral and Data Specialist

Congratulations to our 2009-2010 CDA students!

Another year of CDA class has drawn to a close, with our final class meeting at Mazzios last night. We are so proud of the many students who have completed our Child Development Associate classes, both this year, and in years past.

The Child Development Associate is a credential awarded by the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington D.C. The credential is recognized nationwide as evidence that a child care professional has the skills and knowledge necessary to provide quality care and early education.

Students who participate in our program earn 120 clock hours of quality education covering each of the CDA Subject Areas. In addition to the training hours, our program assigns each student a mentor who is there to help with putting together the Resource File, preparing for the CDA Observation, and preparing for the Verification Visit. Students who wish to can also take our classes for up to nine hours of college credit through the University of Central Missouri.

We are currently enrolling for our 2010-2011 CDA class, which will begin in August. If you want to register, or simply would like more information, please call Jacki Turner at 660-543-8321 or 800-666-1461.

Children's Mental Health Awareness Day

Today marks the Fifth Annual Children's Mental Health Awareness Day, and 2010 is the first time the focus has been on mental health during early childhood.

According to the national Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

Awareness Day raises awareness of effective programs for children's mental health needs; demonstrates how children's mental health initiatives promote positive youth development, recovery, and resilience; and shows how children with mental health needs thrive in their communities.

SAMHSA suggests these strategies for parents and caregivers of young children to promote mental health in children:

1.Integrate mental health into every environment that impacts child development from birth
2.Nurture the social and emotional well-being of children from birth
3.Look for and discuss milestones of a child's social and emotional development from birth

Visit the website for Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administrationto learn more.