Daycare AGAIN!

with 10-12 kids in a class there should be 2 teachers. that is the guidlines here. also i used to work at a daycare and yes biting is normal but should not constantly happen. the daycare i worked at when i was younger actually told the parents the kids could not come back if the biting continued. one kid did get kicked out for biting to many times. the teachers need to be watching a lot more closley because biting should not be happening on a daily basis. I would look for a different daycare!

Hi I am a Montessori teacher and I teach in a small Montessori school in Grapevine.( Huges Road Montessori school) 10-12 kids in one class too many for one person. There has to be two people in that class room at all times. I have been teaching a toddler class since 2001. Thanks Just wanted to share.
I hope this help you.

Biting is normal for that age range. You have to expect it if you're going to have your child in daycare. It only takes a second for it to happen, and there's no way the caregivers can be on top of all of the kids all of the time. You can move your child, but it will happen at any center as long as he's in that age range.

I know it's easy to want the biter expelled from the daycare, but can you imagine how it feels to be a biter's parent? Having to hold down a job, and deal with your biting child in daycare?

Bites are temporary, your child will not be scarred for life. Been there, done that & I get your frustration, but it's a phase that has to pass and not indicative of the quality of care.

Biting can be very normal for this age, and often, in my 25 years experience working with kids (this is just my first hand experience telling you), a child who is less aggressive (cries easier when upset, etc) is often and easy target and gets bit more.

I see biting as a few things. Lack of communication/language skills is THE biggest. These kids do not have the words, so they use their mouths in a physical way. It works for everything else they need...chewing toys makes the mouth feel better. Sucking a bottle or sippy cup gets the desired results there, etc. And yes, teething is another. It feels good to bite.

I agree that the ratio of adult to children sounds wrong!

But daily biting can and will happen. Its the caregivers job (and the schools to have rules in place) to be vigilant, curb the desire, prevent it and keep the room safe. Excessive biters need to be terminated after all avenues have been tried.

Best of luck!

That is perfectly normal for that age range. I, personally, feel that they should have a better intervention system in place. At the school my son went to, whenever they had a child they were working with to stop the biting, they would have another teacher in the class to shadow that child. That was at a regular child care center, granted a higher rated one where I live, but still not a Monterssori.

If you aren't comfortable with the situation, move your child. But realistically, at that age, where ever you move him to, he can still get bitten or bite someone else.

Mine was bitten a few times. Then he started biting back. I DID NOT TEACH him to do that. I guess he just learned it from interaction.

It IS normal. The only way you can keep your little guy from being bit by other one and two year olds is to keep him away from them.

MY son was the biter (probably some moms lighting up the mommy blogs about him this time two years ago). Biters can be supervised, given consequences, given other strategies - but until they mature, and learn more self control and social skills - they will bite. Even though my son KNEW it was wrong, he could not stop himself because he did not have the self control.

Kids are more likely to be bitten during transition times - so the teacher always shadowed my son during those times.

On a positive note, "Whats the worst that can happen?" Both of my children have been in daycare and been bitten repeatedly and are none the worse for wear. Every once in a while - a little mark or bruise results from it.

Also - use this as an opportunity to teach your son to stand up for himself - look the biter right in the face and say strongly "No. I don't like that. Biting hurts. Don't bite me."

You must be wrong on the numbers. The legal ratio is 1 to 6. If its 1: 12 your school is breaking the law.

At that age - kids bite. My son NEVER went through a biting phase but got bit a couple of times. My daughter - she's 2.5 and went through a biting phase a few months ago. She's also gotten bitten a few times. It's extrememly normal at this age. I don't like my child getting hurt - or hurting other children but when there's a group of toddlers - there's going to be hitting, biting etc. I never just brush it off if my daughter bites - I certainly don't think it's a big deal, but I also understand how normal it is that it happens.

The only way to keep it from happenning - don't let your child around other children their age.

I think you have a clue right there - 10 or 12 kids and ONE teacher? Does she have any help? If not, that's illegal. Check your state regulations on how many kids one adult can have in his/her care at that age.

My child bit a child and was also bitten. Once each. I know that kids in her class (1 yr old) did bite each other and it was dealt with. And then later she was bitten at a cousin's house by one of her in-law's kids. So the fact that kids bite is one thing. But your son should not be constantly bitten. My friend's DD was asked to leave a center because she was a biter. If they have that many problem biters, then something isn't right, IMO. "Normal" and "not handled" are two different things and judging only based on what you wrote, I have to wonder what they are doing about it. My guess is nothing or not enough. Your child should not suffer here. I'd find a new school.

Yes it is normal. Especially at that age. Part of the problem we ran into with my oldest who was a bitter was that they could not dole out the punishment that he needed by law. I tried to tell the daycare that he needed his pacifier in his mouth or he might bight but they said he was too old to have it other than nap and as soon as they took it he would bight. We also found out when it got really bad that yes he bit but it was after another kid bit him. It turns into a cycle and as parents there is not much that we can do to get across to a child that much longer after the fact. Once we pulled him out of the daycare and put him in a home daycare he bit once. But she was given permission to swat him and she did and he never did it again. But daycare's are not allowed to do that. Like some of the other ones said at that age they don't know how to use their works so that's what they do.

I don't think they are doing all they can. Kids do bite. Unfortunately. Those parents of those children who bite should be alerted of their child's behavior and that it is unacceptable. It is unfortunate that children learn more of this kind of behavior from other children. And if it isn't nipped in the bud at home, they will continue the behavior at the daycare. Perhaps if these kids are continuing to do this, it could be the teacher that is stressed out, or aggrevated because kids pick up on that and show it through their actions....so that may be something to consider. I would, if it were me, probably pull my child out of that center and look for something else that is more appropriate to my liking.

are they breaking skin? can you see this? is your son J. telling them he;s bit and they are calling you because you complained? it seems odd that in both rooms he's getting bit so much.
my friend taught at a daycare and she said in the 2 year old rooms and 1 year old rooms kids bit all of the time and when they got to 3 it was a lot calmer

It is normal. It sucks, but it's normal. My oldest was the biter. Until the kids learn to talk better and use their words to express what they want, the only way to "tell" another child they are unhappy is to scream, throw a fit, or bite. My youngest is still in the infant room, but has already been pinched on the face because she had a toy that one of the "older" kids (almost a year old) wanted. I didn't like walking in and seeing my 4 month old with a red face, but I understood. The teacher was distraught that it happened, but it's hard to watch every child, every second of the day.

Be thankful they're telling you that it happens. I worked at a day care in college where they put A&D Ointment on bite marks to try and make them disappear before the parents got there. (Our biter was the daughter of a teacher in another room.) Worked okay until one of the 2-year olds learned to talk pretty well and told his mom every day that he got bit.

This is NOT normal and I can't believe these biters are allowed to stay. If my child were biting another child repeatidly, I would expect a warning that we would need to find other arrangements.

This is the same kind of stuff that happens at our local Montessoir and the same reason I won't send my kids there or recommend them to anyone. They seem to be full of lies and safety is anything but the top of the priority list. Just my two cents, but if my kid was bit that much, he would no longer be going there.

Biting is totally normal at this age. There is little that can be done to stop it. The child doing the biting eventually stops. As for kicking a child out of care because they are biting a parent should not have to lose their job due to losing child care and perhaps even end up on welfare to be able to feed their family because their child is doing something natural at this age.

Biting happens and kicking a child out of the facility does not make it go away. Another child will almost always start biting the next day or so.

Kids this age bite. It's just what they do.

Even standing right by the biting child and watching them will not stop them from getting a bite in. It happens with lightening speed and is over. I know because I have a lot of years in child care. I have worked as a teacher, a cook, bus driver, director and have even owned my own facility.

If you are really concerned about this just keep on top of it. But think of the time that will come when your child starts biting, how do you want to be treated when that happens. It's not hard to put yourself in someone else's shoes and think about how frustrating this must be for them too.

My kids were not bit in their toddler classes. I know it happens, but it is happening too much at your son's school. They are not supervising well enough. This does not speak well for their education program. Find a diff school

I don't know what the "law" specifically is for that age group, but I would never feel comfortable putting my child in a room with 10 other kids and there only being one teacher. Thats half the problem right there. I agree there absolutely should be 2 teachers. Who watches the kids while the teacher is changing diapers or fixing snack or preparing craft?? There needs to be extra supervision. I would be angry that your paying such a high fee to have your child in a montessori and there is only 1 teacher for 10 kids! That's crazy! I agree that the biting is fairly normal. Some kids bite some don't. Do your classrooms have video monitors in them? If so maybe monitor it for a full day to see if you can figure out if its just toddlers being toddlers or if its lack of supervision and proper discipline to try and keep it from happening in the first place. Its definately not right that your child has been bitten THAT many times.

I have one daughter, two step sons, and nine grandchildren, six of which are in school. Not one of these individuals have ever been bitten at school or daycare.

If people are saying it's common (I have NOT read any other responses) then all I can say is I'm glad my kids didn't/don't go to school with your kids!

To me, this is like an elementary school ignoring a bullying situation. If they know your son is a target, they should be doing something to protect him. And just like the elementary schools try to do, they are moving your son trying to resolve the issue. Asking/making the victim do something different NEVER works in a bullying situation and it's obviously not working in this situation.

YOu need to sit down with the Director and find out exactly what steps are being taken to protect your child. And do not accept "we are moving him to another room." That doesn't work. They HAVE TO address this with the offending child and his/her parents. Anything less is a waste of time!

If the school is telling the truth and it's a different child biting yours every single time, then that's an awfully high number of biters in one school at one time let alone in one classroom.

I'm very curious what the school's reasoning was for moving your child out of the classroom rather than fixing the biting problem. Moving out the children who get bitten repeatedly doesn't stop the other children from biting unless they're afraid to tell you that your child is provoking the other children.

And if that's the case, they need to own up to it and tell you the truth so that you can deal with it at home and explain things to your child. I'm familiar with Montessori and Montessori-style, and I know that sometimes the schools will take a very laissez fair approach to discipline believing that even acting out is a form of expression. Needless to say, I avoided that type of Montessori and went with one that was Montessori-style with some discipline structure. I didn't want my children to get away with anything, nor for my children to be pushed around.

/rant

If you can't get any real answers as to the high bite rate, I would ask around about other daycares and their reputations. Especially right now while there's still open enrollment before the new school year.

While biting is normal to some extent it should be stopped, as should any provoking behavior. Unless you have the time to go and sit and observe what is happening with your child and the others I would remove him from this daycare, would have done it the second time it happened really.

My experience working in a Montessori daycare/preschool/kindergarten was the biting child was no longer welcome if they continued. But our director was willing to lose the money for the safety of the other children, maybe this one isn't. You as the parent have to be the proactive one.

My daughter has been in daycare for 2 1/2 years, and she's been bitten one time. That time a kid bit her on the thumb, and I tend to wonder exactly what her thumb was doing near another kid's mouth to have been bitten. In her first class (kids that were age 15 months - 28 months), they did occasionally have children that bit or were bitten. However, on the whole, it is NOT common for kids to be bitten repeatedly at daycare. Something is not right in what is going on with your child's center. Either there are a whole lot of frustrated, aggressive biting kids or your child is somehow provoking the situation or both. I'd look for another daycare provider, as there are a lot of good options in the area.

Confidentiality rules are going to prevent the school from telling you who the child is that did the biting. So that won't help much. I know that my daughter's previous daycare has a child whose mother works on-site, and the child is a major biter (at 4 yrs old). The school would not have ever allowed that from any other child (as there is a strong policy about biting), but they have allowed it because it's an employee's child. The reason other parents know who the child is that is doing the biting is merely because their children are at an age to be verbal....the school can't tell them who it is because of confidentiality requirements.

I ran a preschool of 45 employees and 296 kids.

First off hopefully there is NOT 12 in a classroom of 2 yos to one teacher. That is over state ratio of 11 kids. (2 teachers to 22)

Second they are obviously not supervising well enough. That is a big issue with Montessori as it is more "free" they need to take the biters and have them shadow them. As well as make those kids 'bite books'

If skin is broken on bite they HAVE to call licensing and you should take child to dr.