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HL0605 01:57 PM 10-03-2019
I have an 18 mo dcg who is a biter. She attempts to bite 3-5 a day, however I am her shadow at all times, so the bites only land about once a week. This still feels like too much, when I send home a kid with a bite mark weekly. I haven't had a biter in a long time, and while I feel like I know the best way to handle the behavior, I really am just tired of the whole situation. It requires constant vigilance on my part to keep friends safe from her teeth, and I find myself dreading her arrival each day. I realize that biting is typical toddler behavior, but we are going on 6 weeks of frequent biting attempts, and I'm just done. Is it wrong to term over this? I feel guilty, as I know it's developmentally normal, but in a home setting with just one caregiver, this level of biting is exhausting. Has anyone terminated for biting in a young toddler?
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Michael 02:04 PM 10-03-2019
You've put in the effort but if it is taking up a lot of your time and is becoming a strain, you should term. Here are more threads on Terminating Biters: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.p...minate+-+biter
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Blackcat31 02:07 PM 10-03-2019
Originally Posted by HL0605:
I have an 18 mo dcg who is a biter. She attempts to bite 3-5 a day, however I am her shadow at all times, so the bites only land about once a week. This still feels like too much, when I send home a kid with a bite mark weekly. I haven't had a biter in a long time, and while I feel like I know the best way to handle the behavior, I really am just tired of the whole situation. It requires constant vigilance on my part to keep friends safe from her teeth, and I find myself dreading her arrival each day. I realize that biting is typical toddler behavior, but we are going on 6 weeks of frequent biting attempts, and I'm just done. Is it wrong to term over this? I feel guilty, as I know it's developmentally normal, but in a home setting with just one caregiver, this level of biting is exhausting. Has anyone terminated for biting in a young toddler?
Yes, I have terminated a biter for almost the same exact reasons. My entire day consisted of nothing more than blocking the child from biting. It got old fast.

I terminated and simply explained to the parent that as one person I just didn't have the ability to keep the others safe and sadly I had no choice but to terminate since I was not willing to lose other families that were well within their rights to be upset if their child was bit more than once.

I did leave the door open for them to return if they wished once the child had aged and was well beyond the biting stage.

The parents were upset but they did understand. It was awkward but it was okay in the end simply because it was their child and in my eyes, their issue.

They did end up returning but not with that child but their next one so for me it worked out okay but I 100% support any provider that needs to terminate services in order to keep the other kids safe and in order to save their sanity too.

It's okay.... do what you need to do and don't let the guilt get to you. You are only one person and sometimes the needs of the other children as a whole HAVE to come before one child's temporary behavior issue.


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Ariana 02:16 PM 10-03-2019
I personally do not find biting to be developmentally normal, if it was I would have seen a lot more of it. In my 14 years of working with kids I have only seen one kid who was a biter. Shadowing her was exhausting but we noticed that she only bit a specific person so it was a bit easier to manage by keeping them separated.

Shadowing a kid with no progress is a really fast way to burn out. Save your sanity and terminate!
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Tags:biting, biting policy, terminate - biter
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