And not in the hot vampire way.
A child was bitten in Lovebug's class last week (on my birthday, no less).
By Lovebug.
His teacher - who repeatedly pointed out that she'd had him for 2 years and he'd never done anything like this - handled it so amazingly well. Except, well, she talked to the bitten kid's mom and me at the same time.
I apologized, of course. I explained that ChunkyMonkey has recently started biting and that's what had probably inspired Lovebug to bite another kid hard enough to leave a mark. But there is nothing like trying to apologize for your kid's vampire tendencies to make you feel mortified. Especially when your kid is well over 4.
The bitten kid was relatively unfazed, thank God. Possibly he felt guilty for blocking Lovebug from the play house so much that Lovebug flipped out. Possibly he's just a mellow kid and didn't realize how easy it is to drive Lovebug over the edge. I'm just glad he doesn't seem to emotionally damaged too.
Anyway, the teachers talked to Lovebug, the school director talked to him, I talked to him and his father talked to him. We've reviewed things he can do when he's angry and when some kid won't let him in the play house.
Sometimes I am afraid that there is something wrong, because there are so many times when Lovebug over-reacts to normal occurrences. Then I think about how he doesn't sleep and wonder if he is just over-tired all of the time. And I try to remember that he is only 4 and until Friday, the entire school staff thought he was an angel.
Then I remember my reaction when Ironflower's classmate bit her a few weeks ago. Sure, I said all the right things to Ironflower but what I was thinking was, "What's a 5 year old doing biting? Her parents really need to discipline her more." And I realize that payback is a total pain in the ass.
The kid is in Lovebug's group this week too. His mother often gives me pitying looks at pick-up, but so far there have been no problems. Is it wrong that I wish Lovebug had bitten a boy he'd never see again? Or at least a kid whose mom I was friends with?
Has your kid ever bitten anyone? Or been bitten?
5 comments:
Friends of mine who are pre-school teachers talk about kids biting all the time. "Use your words, not your teeth" seems to be almost as commonly repeated to kids as "Use your words, not your hands." It makes a lot of sense that an older sibling would start picking up behaviors from a younger sibling, because kids get jealous. And it sounds like he didn't break the skin, so I wouldn't stress out about it too much. Believe me, it is not fun when your kid bites to the point of breaking skin. My daughter used to do this regularly (at much older than four, but she is a little different) though fortunately she mainly did it to me and to service providers. I've worked with older special needs kids who bit really severely- I had a real chunk of skin ripped out of my arm one time, and I once came close to having two fingers bitten off- but with typical little kids, I think all it means is that sometimes life is just a little too frustrating.
Nancy, that makes me feel so, so much better. Thank you.
[...] Lovebug’s people snap when they are tired or stressed out. And because Lovebug is 4, his version of snapping is crying and whining over EVERYTHING and smacking people. Oh yeah, and last week’s biting episode. [...]
my son would get so in to what he was doing (an intense child) that he would act out the scene, including biting. ok, that is a different scenario, but just making the connection to the intensity level some kids have.
my daughter got bitten once by a girl in her church class (they were at a party) and they were 7! I was mad! they used to have lots of friction between them but over the last year have actually become pretty good friends!
[...] Lovebug’s people snap when they are tired or stressed out. And because Lovebug is 4, his version of snapping is crying and whining over EVERYTHING and smacking people. Oh yeah, and last week’s biting episode. [...]
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