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Daycare_Mama 08:43 PM 12-10-2010
I'm just wondering if other providers have issues with their daycare kids hitting or biting their parents when the parent picks them up for the day.

My little daycare boy is 19 months old and has what I would call typical feelings about coming and leaving daycare. When he gets here in the morning, I would say 4 out of 5 mornings, he just wants mom to hold him, is tired, and cries when she starts to head back out the door. But at the end of the day, every day, he never wants to leave once mom comes to pick him up. She doesn't mind this and has mentioned that she likes that he doesn't want to leave because it reassures her he likes being here.

The problem is as soon as his mom tries to put his coat/shoes/hat whatever on and tells him it's time to go, he immediately smacks her in the face (pretty hard too), or her pulls her hair, or tries to bite her face or shoulder (whatever is closest!). She will firmly say no and grab his hand, but then he'll just hit her with the other hand. Today he hit her about 5 times, bit her, and pulled her hair and she was clearly pretty upset about it as she left.

What I don't get is that he has NEVER tried to hit or bite me whatsoever. He occasionally hits or bites my 2 year old daughter, but this is normal kid behavior (usually in response to her taking his toy or him wanting something of hers that she won't give him). I firmly say no biting/hiting/whatever it is and put them in time-out for 2 minutes for such behavior. Then I tell whoever hit or bit to say sorry to the other one and give them a hug.

I don't understand why he does this to his mom, but he doesn't hit or bite me when I take something away from him or take him away from something. Sure, he cries if he's upset that I took something from him, but he's never even came close to hitting me or trying to hurt me.

My daughter is my first child and this is my only daycare child (just in the process of getting licensed), so I don't know if this is typical behavior at pick-up. It is always his mom who drops off and picks up, so it's not like it's an unusual routine for him. Also, mom and dad give him time-outs at home for same behavior. She says he gets out of his time outs right away - again different from daycare...he sits in timeout for me perfectly fine until I tell him he can get up.
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