The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations of Early Learning at Vanderbilt University offers an excellent guide for Responding to Your Child’s Bite, a behavior with which many parents of young children have had to contend. This article is definitely one you’ll want to save for future reference.
The authors explore the many reasons why children bite and give very specific ideas about what parents and caregivers can do. They suggest quickly and calmly removing the child from the situation, directing your attention to the person who was bitten (rather than the biter), acknowledging the biter’s feelings, and offering alternative behaviors the biter can use to express strong emotions, such as saying “Stop!” or “Help!” The article also describes…
