Biting policies at a daycare???

Question

I currently work at a POS daycare and I try to make it better, one my concerns is a biting policy...Here if a kid bites, and he's liked by staff, he gets away with it...if he isn't liked he gets the boot...I was wondering what a Nice and Worthy daycare would do in a Biting situation...I want to come up with a policy that is well defined and black and white so every one can b on the same page...Does anyone have any suggestions??? I'd like to hear from daycare staff and Parent's point of view...Thank you !!! =)

Answer 1

Biting happens for many reasons.  It could be related to a child's lack of verbal skills to express emotion.  Usually they bite because it works.  (Bite=Get the toy you want for a moment while adult attends to the victim.)  Very young children do not understand the other people have a perspective that is different from their own.  They don't understand biting hurts, because they are not being injured themselves.  (Biting back is NOT a solution because they will learn that a powerful person can bite a less powerful person to get their way.)  

Personally, I do not believe that kicking a child out of a program is the answer.  I don't ever want to tell a child that they are too damaged to be with us.  The best solution is to figure out why the biting is occurring and deal with that problem.  Teach the child an appropriate, replacement behavior that will work better and faster.  Make the biting stop working.  

This is a resource that works VERY well.  http://www.extension.iastate.edu/publica...

If you want it, teach it.

Answer 2

I worked at a daycare for awhile with Toddlers and Two's, I assume this is the age you are seeing the most biting?  I agree with the others, find out why the biting is happening.  If he/she is a frequent offender (more than twice a week) then start a "behavior plan".  Be sure to document when and where the other child was bitten.  "Tommy bit another child at the table at snack time"  "Tommy bit another child during circle time".  Hopefully a pattern will immerge and because of the childs lack of ability to communicate you'll see why.  Perhaps Tommy doesn't like anyone to touch his snack or touch him at circle time.  Also make sure the bitten child did not bite himself (oh yeah, that happened to us once too).  This behavior plan should also be shown to the parents so that they can see the behaviors are documented. (Do not include the victims name on the forms shown to parents).  Biting is generally a phase and one thing that really seemed to work for another teacher is she would tell the offender "Tommy, we give hugs, not bites".  Tommy responded very well to that.  The hugee didn't always like it but ALWAYS came away without teethmarks.  That worked much better.  We also once had a kid who got bit 11 times in 15 days.... we actually caught him putting his fingers, arms, etc in other kids mouths... who knows these days.  Kids can be very odd.

Answer 3

Our policy is to comfort the "bitee" first, then question the biter and try for an answer.  Time out for the biter follows, since biting is NEVER acceptable.   Use your words.  

Our preschoolers are 3 to 5 years old,  The parents are told since some bites are clearly visible.  The biter's parents are also informed.  We do try and protect the identify of the parties involved, but at this age, the students themselves will tell the parents who was involved.

We've only had to put one child out for biting and I didn't feel bad about it.  This certain child stood there and bit his mother while she kept insisting she'd never seen him bite.  She pretended he wasn't biting her in front of me!

Answer 4

If you bit, then time out for like 5min. i work at a daycare and ever since that rule came in there has not been to much bitting cause like in kid world five min of doing nothing is like 5 hours. as you must know allready

Answer 5

I teach preschool in a program that provides daycare after school and I don't think a child should get kicked out of a program for biting!

Children bite for a reason, find out what that reason is and the behavior will work itself out.  If the child wants to socialize and doesn't have the tools yet, teach the child to greet peers or how to participate in simple play.  Maybe the child is angry and doesn't know how to express those feelings, help them to find effective ways to work that out.

I know you didn't ask how to deal with a child who tends to bite but I thought I might share what I have learned from my experiences.

Answer 6

I work in after school care and have recently dealt with a situation where a 10 year old child bit a younger child. Regardless of age what we do is:

- seperate the children

- find out how/why it occcured

- make it clear that bitting is not acceptable regardless of the situation (in our situation the boy said that he was told to fight back so we told him fight not bite and even then fighting is not acceptable)

- write up an incident report for the biter and an accident report for the child that was attacked (even if its just marked skin and not broken)

- read what is written on the reports to the child(ren) invovled explaining that their parent will be shown the report.

- once parent has signed it give them a photo copy and keep the other in the file.

We do understand their may be external influences but asI said previously biting is not acceptable in any circumstance within our setting.

another idea (if possible) is it as to ask for the parents opinion on what they would like done in these situations. How they think it should be handle, how many chances they child should have etc so that when the situation occurs everybody is following the same idea.

Answer 7

Many great answers have already been given. One suggestion that I try to use is that one staff member needs to keep close attention and be within reaching distance with the child doing the biting. No matter what the reason is that he is biting if he can  be redirected towards a different activity before he bites would be ideal. A teacher who is in close contact can sometimes predict when the environment or temperament of the child and friend could clash. This is when the teacher can encourage the redirection. Hope I am not confusing but it has helped me in the past. Part of this though is to have enough staff for the more one on one attention.

Answer 8

I wrote a brochure about biting when I was in grad. school and have used it in centres where I've worked. Send me a message and I'll see if I can dig it up to send to you!