Originally Posted by Crystal:
NO!!!! It is NOT typical behavior! If it were typical every kid that passes through our door would do it. Please do not accept it as typical behavior.
Maybe typical is not the right word. It is NOT ok, I am absolutely not saying that. But, it is not uncommon. I don't have any statistics, only anecdotal data here, but I don't know a single daycare provider (and I've know a lot of them in 23 years) who hasn't had one or two biters.
People can term every kiddo that bites if they don't want to deal with it. That's fine. But, OP said this is not an option. I have a kiddo now that age that was a biter for about 2-3 weeks. But, doing the above (my other post) got us through it, and it hasn't happened in 6 or 8 weeks now. It CAN be managed. In my case, the other family was not happy either, but I assured them that I was working on it, and if I felt like I couldn't conquer it, the biter would be terminated (I only have 2 toddlers, so the culprit was pretty obvious in this case).
Sometimes, we all get a little carried away with the term, term, term thing. There are situations where we should term (I've termed 3 families in the last 2 1/2 years, each for different reasons). But, if OP is in a situation where that is not a valid option, then I would like to give her some ideas on how to fix the problem, if possible.
Again, just because it's happens with a lot of toddlers does not mean I am saying it's OK. Toddlers hoard toys, toddlers hit, toddlers throw food, toddlers climb on furniture, eat dog food, play in the toilet, and generally get into stuff they shouldn't, and sometimes, toddlers bite. None of this is okay in my house, but it's my job to teach them, right?