Your two-year-old bites others, what to do?

Defenselessness makes you angry. In this rage, every toddler one day discovers that they have a silver bullet that they can use anytime, anywhere: their own teeth. Biting is part of your child’s natural development. When young children don’t know how to handle a situation, when they’re angry, frustrated, or just really scared, they may bite. In some cases, a two-year-old may bite just for fun or out of a desire for affection and attention.

Your 2 year old bites another child, how should you react?

• Act immediately: Separate the two children and make sure there is enough distance between them so that they cannot bite each other. Don’t let your child bite a second time. Immediately after the first attack, intervene and calmly but firmly explain that you will not tolerate biting and gently but firmly hold its head out of harm’s way so it cannot bite you. Alternatively, you can cover your child’s mouth with your hand.
• Make sure none of the children are seriously injured. It is important that you pay equal attention to everyone involved in the bite attack so that no child feels disadvantaged, i.e. radiate warmth and security towards the biting child. Maybe your child will then explain to you why it bit.
• Don’t judge your child . In most cases, this only makes it worse. Instead, try to talk calmly to your child. Your child may appear passive or not understand that they just caused pain. But your child understands very well that it has just hurt the other child. If you also show him warmth and security, your child may open up to you and explain why he acted the way he did.
• Give him a break: If you have separated the children and in the process explained not to bite, give your child a short break. take it aside Don’t talk or play with him either
• Talk to him about it: After the break, you should talk to your child about it, even if your child doesn’t yet understand your reasoning. Nevertheless, over time, he understands that it is through speaking and not through aggressive behavior that one achieves something. Show your child other ways to let off steam or assert interests. Explain that if they get stuck, they can come to you or another caregiver and ask for help. Explain to him that it’s okay to be angry. However, it is not okay to bite others out of anger.
• Do not imitate: Never imitate your child. Don’t bite it to show it hurts or be verbally aggressive towards it. It takes your behavior as an example and imitates it. Your child will only be more likely to react aggressively in such situations.

What can you do to stop your two-year-old from biting?

• Observe your child very closely and try to find out in which situations it bites. Was it teased by a playmate? Does it try to bite you when you are breastfeeding your little brother or sister? Once you have identified the situations in which your child behaves aggressively, you can try to adapt to them. You can then avoid the situations or prepare yourself for them and, for example, distract your child in good time.
• Distract your child in good time: If your child is upset about something, try to distract them. Young children quickly forget the reason for their anger beyond the distraction. It is best to start with a distraction maneuver as soon as you realize that a tantrum is imminent.
• Try to ignore tantrums: Your child may want your attention. If you pay close attention to the tantrum, it will soon erupt again as soon as it craves attention. It learns that something positive will happen when it gets angry like this. It is therefore important that your child understands that this behavior will not achieve anything (certainly nothing positive). Try to ignore the tantrum as best you can, or even walk away for a moment. As soon as it has calmed down again, you tell your child that you think it’s good that it has calmed down again. Try not to hold grudges and don’t keep talking about the topic. In this way, your child learns that aggressive behavior, whether biting, scratching, screaming or hitting, does not help him.