Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Sometimes? Kids bite.

Or in Aiden's case, it's ALL the time. He had three accident reports yesterday when Travis picked him up. All three were bites. Once on a finger, once on the arm and once on the forehead. Only the one on the arm left a mark. And they were from three different children.

According to the teachers, Aiden takes the other kids' toys, so they bite him in defense (I've witnessed him take toys from smaller kids). When this happens, Aiden gets the toy momentarily while the other kid is put in time out. Then they take the toy away and give him an ice pack (fun for a 1-year old). I keep hoping that the pain of the bites will teach him not to steal toys anymore, but I read that kids his age don't have a good sense of cause and effect just yet. Hopefully he figures it out within the next few months - preferably before he starts biting others.

Travis asked the teachers what they recommend doing and they said the main thing is to teach him how to ask for a toy instead of just taking it. To do that, we're supposed to teach him to say "please" when he wants something. I'm not quite sure how to teach that. I just hope we can get him to understand before he loses an arm!

Thankfully, thus far no bites of broken the skin. Only two have been bad enough to leave a mark long enough for us to see it in the evening (one of which occured yesterday). He has had over seven bites at this point. Honestly, I've lost count.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? I need to do some more reading!!!

2 comments:

Sara's Satire said...

Well, what you read is true, children at this age dont completely comprehend cause and effect, HOWEVER; it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it anyway...he will catch on. Hopefully, it doesn't take him getting bit to catch on.
My suggestion would be, when you get home at night, you Travis and Aiden should sit in an area without toys, each of you gets a toy, and maybe leave a fourth toy out...Try not to engage Aiden, but act as though you are TRULY interested in the toy that you have. You can even lay on the ground so that you are "shorter" than him. Eventually he will go to grab either yours, or Travis' toy. When he does (DONT BITE HIM!!!), simply move the toy so he can't grab it, and tell him to say please...tell him to use his words. Now, he isn't going to automatically look at you and say, "please" but after a while he will grasp the concept...the HARDER thing to teach is when he learns to say please and the other child says, "NO" LOL. Children that age also dont understand the concept of sharing. Good luck, the hard parts is... he doesn't understand he is getting bit because he is taking toys from people, just like the other kids dont fully inderstand that they are going to time - out because they are biting! YIKES

Nikki said...

Bahaha! The best part of this comment is that I'm not supposed to bite Aiden when he takes my toy. LOL! I seriously am going to try this exercise though. Hope he catches on quick!

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