Yesterday I got report from daycare that Kwabena has started trying to bite his best buddy at daycare. I was quite shocked, even though I know that these types of behaviors are normal for toddlers. There are a couple explanations for this type of behavior:
- Last week Kwabena came home from daycare with a bite mark bruise on his arm. I could see clearly a set of 4 toddler teeth imprints on the botton of the bruise, as well as defined imprints on the top. My poor baby. I don’t think Miss Marilyn even noticed, and I didn’t bring it up to her. What could she have done? Perhaps because he got bitten, he is acting out what happened to him.
- At home, we do pretend an awful lot that we’re “eating each other up.” I tell Kwabi that I’m going to “eat him up” and will make pretend bites all over him, while he giggles. He will do it back to us, most times just pretending. But one day he did bite me on my ass! NOT FUNNY! (okay, it is funny, lol)
Whatever the cause, I decided to sit Kwabena down and address the behavior. I said to him yesterday, “Kwabena, I want to talk to you about your behavior at daycare yesterday.” And he shocked the hell out of me when he immediately answered, “I bite Brycie.” This kid is intelligent, and knew that when I said I wanted to talk about his “behavior” he impressively knew what behavior I was referring to. WOW.
So I proceeded to tell him that it’s not nice to hurt his friends at daycare…that instead, he should give them kisses and hugs. He nodded, to say he would be nice. I can only know for sure if he understood once I get the report from daycare today.
Another thing his daycare provider reported is that Kwabena is sometimes kicking the toys that other kids are playing with. For example, if his best buddy is on the floor reading a book, he will come over and kick the book. Again, I’m quite shocked, because Kwabena has not been doing this at home (although this morning I did witness him do something like that).
One explanation is that he has seen others do it. In fact, when we went to Ocean City not even 2 weeks ago, the 2.5 year old that he was playing with was doing that same behavior–for example, when Kwabi was playing with a train set, the child would come over and completely demolish the train tracks and trains. It was very frustrating.
Could this be where Kwabi learned the behavior? Or could this really just be what some toddlers do for the hell of it?
Regardless of where he learned it, I am addressing it, letting him know that type of behavior is not nice and is not acceptable. He’s got a great daycare provider that effectively addresses these types of behaviors, also.
It’s just ironic that these aggressive behaviors of which I was complaining about last week with my friend’s son, Kwabena is now doing. Perhaps it is just normal toddler behavior. But the key to eliminating this behavior is to nip it in the bud as quickly as possible, and to let your child know that you will not tolerate it. Kids are smart as hell, and they know what is right and what is wrong, even at the young age of 22 months.
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