Biting is a common problem among young children. When incidents occur, early years managers need to have a clear policy in place so they can handle the children and their parents effectively.
'Biting is something that always seems to get everybody worked up,' says early years consultant Ann Langston. 'Parents become anxious that they might have a child with a behavioural problem, while the parents of the bitten child get concerned for their protection.'
Ann McEwan, proprietor of the ABC chain of nurseries, agrees. 'It is very much an issue of how you manage the parents. You need to give the parents confidence in the nursery, because they are putting their child into your care.'
'The first step is to explain the setting's policy when parents register,'
says Ann Langston. 'If the issue has been raised with the parents when they first come to you, they will be aware it could arise. If their child bites, they won't think this is the beginning of a history of serial violence and challenging behaviour. It is important to flag up your biting policy so parents know this is something that happens, but it is not something you sanction or encourage and you are pro-active in dealing with it.'
The policy must be operated consistently, Ann McEwan stresses. And this has to be reinforced in staff training. 'We all must speak to parents in the same way and say the same things. You must not let a situation arise where parents feel they are treated differently,' she says.
Calm response
But what to do when a child bites? Respond calmly but quickly. If biting creates uproar among the adults, a child seeking attention could see that reaction as a reward and be tempted to do it again, says Lisa Weston, manager of the Old School House Nursery in Stetchworth, Cambridgeshire.
The approach adopted at ABC nurseries is for staff to separate the children. 'The child who has been bitten is taken away and comforted and tended to,' says Ann McEwan. 'Another member of staff will deal with the child who has done the biting. How she handles the child depends on their age. But it is made clear, even if the child is very young, that this is unacceptable behaviour. That can be conveyed by your tone of voice and body language.
'Then we have a reconciliation. We do that very quickly. Once the initial trauma has been dealt with, we would bring the bitten child back, even if she was still crying, so the child can see what happens when you hurt somebody. The child is usually very remorseful.'
At Manor Nursery, near Bicester, manager Laura Oliver involves the child who has bitten in the care of the child they have hurt. 'The child helps put on the ice and care for them. We comfort them both. It can be shocking for a child to realise what they have done when the other child screams. It can scare both children. We let the child who has bitten see the results of their actions.
'Using simple words, we say, "That really hurt her". We talk about using gentle touches and say, "You can hold her hand and stroke her arm, if she will let you.'"
'At that age there is no point dwelling on it for long,' says Lisa Weston.
'We try to get them playing happily together again, with an adult supervising.'
Take note
At ABC Nurseries biting incidents are logged in the incident book, says Ann McEwan, and both sets of parents are informed separately and in private on the day, without identifying the other child. The only time she has ever named the children was when an incident involved siblings.
Lisa Weston speaks to the parents away from their child who has bitten. 'We try to reassure them. We say we will track the behaviour to see if there is a pattern. It may be that the child bit when he was hungry or tired, and we can work on that. We say there is no point in bringing it up with the child when they get home. At 6pm, a two-year-old will have no concept of what he or she did at 10 am.
'We speak to the parents of the bitten child and explain that the other parents have been told and we are working together. We explain that we are monitoring and observing, but that I cannot promise the parent that their child won't be bitten again.
'Some children always go for the same child. If the pattern does show it is the same child, then we reassure the parents that there are enough areas in the nursery for them not to be always together.'
Clear messages
Settings also need the co-operation of parents to ensure children are not getting mixed messages, says Ann Langston. 'Maybe at home the parents play games by nibbling ears and biting toes. The child can get the wrong message. You may have to suggest that they reduce the games so as not to confuse the child.'
Laura Oliver logs incidents in detail to help her identify a pattern if the child bites again. 'We note the time of day, how many children and adults were with the child at the time, and what was happening.'
Once a pattern is identified she draws up an action plan, which can run to two sides of A4 paper. Copies go to the child's parents and the staff and it is reviewed after two weeks. For example, if the pattern indicates that a child becomes over-excited at transition times, routines will be changed.
The waiting time while children get ready to go outdoors is reduced by sending the children out in smaller groups, new songs are introduced for transition times, or the child is encouraged to do more physical activities.
She invites the parents to come in and discuss the plan and how they can implement it at home. In one case the parents refused. 'She did not want to discuss the plan. She had different ideas - if the child bit, she bit back.
But that makes the child think that if you are bigger, you can bite.'
The plan worked but took longer than expected. In the meantime, the same child was bitten again.
Laura recalls, 'The parents did not think enough was being done and thought he should be expelled. I had to ask whether they would want their child expelled because he was going through a natural stage of development. I could not show them the action plan, but I did discuss the various scenarios so they could see we were taking action.' NW