 | My son went through that as well. We were living with our in-laws at the time. He would bite his grandparents. One day, to my complete shock, she bit him back. I was appalled. That was the last straw for me...I could NOT believe she did that. I was so mad at her for the longest time.
But...he eventually stopped biting. He was too young for any "emotional" scars. And he doesn't remember it at all. All he knows is that biting hurts people. I agree with thwarted. Explaining to a baby/toddler that biting hurts makes no sense to them. They can understand phsyical pain, though. I would compare it to spanking. Why do parents spank? To get across to a child that certain actions warrent certain consequences. When a parent has tried to explain, time-out, counting to three...sometimes spanking needs to be administered to get across certain ideas. Same here. Your child may not understand it hurts. But he will if he were ever bitten back.
Should you console him afterwards? That is up to you. In my opinion, you have gotten the idea across that you wanted to...biting = hurting. To actually bite your child, then leave the room may leave your child feeling abandoned and bewildered. This is my approach to discipline. I understand that some may disagree with me and that this approach may not work for every parent/child. You do need to explain to him why you did that, though. He may not understand it now, but he will one day. You'd be amazed how much they actually understand before you realize it. |
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