How can I get my four year old child to stop biting?

Question

My four year old son has just started biting again. He went thru the stage when he was younger, but we thought he grew out of it. In the past week he has started biting again, drawing blood....I need help...I have tried biting him back, taking away things, spankings...nothing seems to work. He is very good in school but seems to get the urges where he gets angry and now bites...HELP ME PLEASE...I hate that there are kids he goes to school with who have these bites on them....I would hate it if it were my kid...

Answer 1

id talk 2 a child counselor instead of asking someone on here who might give u false information, atleast if ud see a counselor, ud know they r a professional for sure.

Answer 2

Of course biting him and hitting him aren't going to work, you're only REINFORCING the violent behavior. IF he is drawing blood you could be held accountable. The parents of whomever he bites had better be taking their child to the doctor and as a parent who has done so I would expect YOU, the biter's parents to pay for it.
The only things I can suggest is to remove the child from the environment he is in until he learns not to bite. Also find out WHY he is biting. I'm willing to bet it has something to do with being taught violent behavior in the home. Children's first and most important teachers are their parents...

Answer 3

Please don't hit or bite your son any more! He's struggling to act in a civilized manner and needs to learn two things.

1. Violence is not a viable solution. He can never be allowed to get what he wants by using violence (like biting.) This needs to be a crash course and you need to involve all his caregivers and family members. Structure a system of consequences where EVERY time he strikes out he gets the SAME consequences, immediately.

2. Better problem-solving skills (including anger management). At the same time you discourage violence, you need to teach and encourage positive problem-solving. This is far more difficult than punishment, but ultimately much more effective. Walk him through the kind and gentle way to get what he wants.

Here is an example:
Another child cuts in line ahead of him. He screams and bites the other child. His immediate consequences might be to sit in a time-out for four minutes, then apologize to the other child for biting him/her. He can then help wash and ice the other child's injury. When the other child feels better, your son can gently ask "Will you please not cut in front of me anymore? It makes me feel bad."

Stick with it, it's worth it.

Answer 4

Your dog is a puppy and all puppies bite and nip unless someone teaches them not to. Whoops, I think you missed that. In Sirius Puppy classes, you would have learned this and had a dog that could sit, lay down, stand, stay, come and walk on a leash without pulling and much more, all in six weeks. Now you need a professional trainer to help you. Find someone who uses Positive Reinforcement. Punishment will only make the dog bite MORE. The dog will never learn unless it is taught. The dog is your responsibility. Find a good trainer and teach your dog how to behave nicely.

Answer 5

I've herd that you shouldn't bite back,it could be confusing to him and he may think that it's o.k to bite.My daughter was a bad biter.I baby sat other children and she would bite them.I would explain to her that it hurts it's not nice and I put her in time out. I did that many times I didn't think she would ever stop.she had a favorite toy ,I took that from her for about 15 min and that's what broke her.I think it really depends on the child .Some children you need to explain repeatedly before they will stop.

Answer 6

This is s funny story to a not so funny problem.

Our son was a bitter and he bit his sister all the time. Once when he was in the process of biting her she grabbed his own finger and stuck it in his mouth, so he would bite his own finger. He stopped right then and there. We laugh about this now but it was a real problem at the time.

Our pedeitritian told us to bite him back, or to have him bit himself until he realized how bad it hurt. Just so happens his older sister was in the room and heard this remidy and took it upon herself to impose it.

I did not like the idea of us biting him back at all. I do believe in corporal punishment for just cause but it was more effective for him to bite himeself.

Answer 7

hi.

try to speak to your son in such manner he can understand, no baby talk please, don't underestimate the level of understanding your son may have.

explain to him that it is bad to bite, hurt other people like his playmates, classmates or even cousins or siblings. also try to get him to think how he will feel if somebody also bit him because he upset somebody. Don't spank him,idon't call him names or don't say you're a bad boy, i don't lvoe you anymore! the more reason he will do that.

Just explain to him the bad effects of his behavior. If all these suggestions that i gave you won't work, id say you can try to ask help from you mother, mother in law or even a child psychologist or their school counselor.

Answer 8

maybe a spray bottle with Tabasco sauce in it, to squirt his mouth when he bites? Some sort of immediate punishment usually works.

Answer 9

I'm sorry, but you are going to have to bite him as hard as he bit!! And then spank!! You must make the punishment extreme, and more intence than his bite, in order for him to get it understood!! I know this sounds cruel & boarder line of of abuse, but if yuo are consistant, his behavior will change quickly!!

Answer 10

Umm,.. See a guidance counceller..