There is a particular feeling that comes with being told your child bit someone. And a different, equally hard one that comes with being told your child was bitten.
At Little Jungle Early Learning in Dundas, we have both conversations, and we start them the same way. This is normal, it is developmental, and it passes.
Biting is almost never about aggression. It is about language that has not arrived yet.
Why this matters more than most families realise
Biting peaks between about eighteen months and three years. That is not a coincidence. It is the window where a child’s wants have raced ahead of their words.
A two year old who wants the truck, feels crowded at the shelf, or is tired and overwhelmed has a very small set of tools. If the words are not there, the body speaks instead.
Almost every bite we see comes down to one of four things. Wanting something. Feeling crowded. Being overwhelmed by noise. Or being tired.
Built into everything we do, all day
We watch for the pattern. Bites cluster. Late morning before lunch. The crowded moment at the shelf. Once you know when, you can be there before it happens.
We give the words early. Not after the bite, when nobody is listening. Before. “You want the truck. Say, my turn next.” Said fifty times, it starts to land.
We name the feeling. “You were cross that she took it.” A child who hears their feeling named starts to recognise it, and a feeling you can recognise is one you can do something with.
We stay calm. Big reactions are interesting, and interesting things get repeated.
The Little Jungle difference
Moving a child away and settling the moment is the quick path, and on a busy morning it is tempting.
The moment was never the thing though. The pattern is, and only an educator who knows a child well can see it coming.
Our educators stay, which means they know which child struggles at the shelf and which one needs lunch ten minutes early. That knowledge is most of what makes this work, and it is the part that takes time to build.
When it happens, we go to the child who was bitten first. Comfort, cold pack, and both families hear from us the same day. Neither child is named to the other family.
We are not managing the behaviour out of your child. We are helping them find the words that make it unnecessary.
If you are choosing a centre, ask how they handle this. The answer tells you how the room is run. Book a tour and ask us, or call on 1300 192 598.
