It’s developmentally normal, even typical, for toddlers and young children to bite. But that doesn’t mean we just sit back and let it happen.
Here to talk about the many reasons children bite and how parents can effectively respond to this behavior is the co-founder of Upshur Bren Psychology Group, Dr. Emily Upshur.
In this episode we’ll talk about exactly what to do when your child bites, plan b and c for when that strategy isn’t working, and advice for what to do before and after the bite occurs to work toward preventing it from happening again in the future.
Whether your child bites every now and then or this is a pattern you aren’t sure how to break, this episode will offer you strategies you won’t want to miss!
Dr. Emily (00:00):
I think it’s important to sort even at a very young age, give kids alternative strategies and give them scenarios and kind of troubleshoot it with them. Well, what if somebody takes your toy? What do you think? What could you do instead? And I think that really helps.
Dr. Sarah (00:20):
I posted a reel a few weeks ago about what to do when your child bites and I was flooded with questions. Everything from my child bites, other kids and even adults. How do we handle this? My toddlers biting when they feel anything, not just anger. Is that normal? And I’ve been following the, “I won’t let you bite” respectful parenting script, but it’s not working. What am I supposed to do next? So I invited Dr. Emily Upshur back on the podcast to tackle all these questions and dive into nuances and gray areas around biting. If you’re a regular listener, you know Emily, she’s the co-founder of our joint practice, Upshur Bren Psychology Group in Pelham, New York. And she’s a frequent guest on the podcast. The thing is biting is not one size fits all. It can result from a variety of different emotions and unmet needs. In this episode, Emily and I will get into the most common reasons toddlers and kids bite. How to put on your detective hat to try to determine which of these is the culprit for your unique child in this unique moment and how to respond in a way that addresses the root causes of this behavior.
(01:29):
Hi, I’m Dr. Sarah Bren, a clinical psychologist and mom of two. In this podcast, I’ve taken all of my clinical experience, current research on brain science and child psychology, and the insights I’ve gained on my own parenting journey and distilled everything down into easy to understand and actionable parenting insights. So you can tune out the noise and tune into your own authentic parenting voice with confidence and calm. This is Securely Attached.
(01:58):
Hey everyone, we are so lucky to have Dr. Emily Upshur back on the podcast to answer some listener questions. One that has come up a lot was about biting and we get a lot of questions about what do I do in my child’s biting, I’m trying all the things I’m supposed to do and they are still biting. Help me. I don’t wanna want my child to not be able to go to play dates because they bite, but I also, I don’t know how to stop them from biting.
Dr. Emily (02:32):
Yeah, I think this is a really common topic and there’s two sides of this. There’s the kit that’s biting and the kit that’s bitten. And so I think it’s a really important aspect to sort try to do this on both sides of that. One of the things that we often think about is what are the underlying reasons behind some of these things? What’s going on? What leads a child to be bitten or the biter? And I think we can work on some of those underlying reasons and help parents to come to a little bit of a better understanding. Is it about emotional dysregulation? Is it about being able to express yourself verbally better? Is it about not being able to stand up for yourself? Is it about not being able to put yourself in the right situations? So I think it’s really important for us to, on an individual basis, pick that through.
(03:21):
But some of the overall arching things we can do in the moment, aside from the basics of staying really calm, setting a limit, not letting a child sort of bite or do a behavior that’s aggressive in that manner, what can we do after that? And I always think of this as a two-prong approach. The first thing is you’ve set the limit. Great job done. You’ve done a really good job at doing that. But how do you weather the storm of that limit? That limit might not look like, okay, great mom, dad, thanks for letting us know I’m not gonna bite anymore. It’s most likely gonna look big and messy and maybe a tantrum or maybe attempting to bite more. So there’s a little bit of holding that boundary and I think that that’s really important. And then weathering the emotional storm that might come from that.
Dr. Sarah (04:16):
Yeah, I think there’s a couple different camps when it comes to biting. I think we have parents who see a bite to child biting and they feel themselves incredibly panicked and they come in super hot and they’re like, oh, and I get that. I really do. If you see your kid bite or another kid bites your kid, it’s scary. It’s really scary. And there’s fear of real harm being done. There’s also a fear of societal judgment, like, oh my god, they’re gonna get kicked outta daycare or no one’s gonna wanna be on a playdate with us.
(04:51):
And cuz there’s something really primal about biting and especially in a post pandemic, we’re pretty sensitive to germs and oral stuff. It’s layered with a lot of visceral reactions. It feels very primly aggressive and it feels kind of really unsafe in a lot of ways. And I also think it’s really important to help parents understand that children bite. This is actually developmentally appropriate thing. Is it okay? Is it safe? No. But do kids bite when they’re upset? Yes, certainly toddlers and even preschoolers, if they’re pushed to that breaking point, I would not be, it’s not a call for severe concern if it’s a really big pattern, we definitely wanna understand what’s going on. It’s a sign we look at it as it’s a bell that’s being wrong. And it could be that this is an isolated incident and our child just got so upset and so had so few resources in that moment that this is what occurred. It could be that it’s a pattern that they continually seem to find themselves engaging in this behavior when they reach that point of dysregulation. And so that’s one thing to first consider. Is this a one-off thing where they just got really upset and this it happened? Is this their go-to way of expressing extreme frustration?
Dr. Emily (06:27):
Yeah, I mean think what’s so important about what you’re saying is there, of course you’re right, this is this visceral response we all have to biting. But I think when we think about things, we think of that as an unmet need or an undeveloped appropriate response and biting, while it’s in its nature, obviously aggressive oral stimulation is also very soothing. So is this a child’s attempt at self soothing? Is this a child’s attempt at self-regulating? Is it appropriate? No. Do we need to work on that area? Yes. But it’s not totally uncommon.
Dr. Sarah (07:05):
And I also think, you know, brought up another interesting point of this. Is it self soothing? Is it you see a lot of biting with kids who are sensory seeking, which is something, maybe you could talk a little bit about the distinction between, I’m just super, super, super mad right now and I can’t hold my rage in and this is the way it’s manifesting versus I’m playing with you in, whoops a bit, oops, that felt good to bite, whoop, oops, I did it again. And there’s like, I think there’s a little bit of a different flavor in those two types of scenarios.
Dr. Emily (07:40):
Both are common I think, and you’re right there, there’s a little bit of a different flavor to them. I think the sort of sensory seeking piece is a need for feedback from your environment. And so we see that with kids also in other sort of physical manifestations, leaning on other kids, touching other kids, that type of thing. So I think it’s see this in other manifestations, but it, it’s the same concept. How do we set a limit and help the child weather that limit? And that might be about, it might not look so pretty when we do that, but we do have to of set that limit even if it’s a sensory seeking thing. Intentionality is important for us to understand as the parent or the caregiver, is it sensory, is it not sort of aggressively based or dysregulated based on dysregulation? But in the end, and that helps inform us what to do after we set the limit. But in the end we have to our first step, step number one is setting that limit. And then step number two is weathering the reaction to that limit being said
Dr. Sarah (08:47):
Yes. And then there’s this other prong which we’ll talk about which is how do we actually prophylactically prevent some things? How do we shift the environment? How do we help prepare a child? How do we in cool moments, build skills? So these are things that, again, knowing that the source of the behavior will really inform that piece when we’re responding to the behavior in and of itself, it doesn’t matter why they’re biting, we gotta stop the biting. And so what we often do, and this is what I always say to parents is first of all, first and foremost we stay calm, which is super hard to do for all the reasons we’ve just talked about. But we stay calm because we also have to remember that if they’re biting, they’re dysregulated. And so we do not wanna come in hot and pour gasoline on their fire, it will make it worse.
(09:39):
So there’s a couple strategies that I think are really important. The most basic one I always teach is to very calmly say, I’m not gonna let you bite. Nope, we’re not doing that. It’s not safe. And I physically block or I move my body away. If they’re biting me, I might say, oh, I’m set you down. Or if they’re biting another child, I will get in between the two of them and I’ll say, that’s not safe. And if they can tolerate that alone and reconstitute, I’m just gonna bodyguard, I’m just gonna be present. If me setting that limit is not enough to keep them from wanting to continue to approach and hurt another child, I’m gonna physically remove them and say, you’re showing you cannot be safe right now. I’m gonna move you over here. I’m gonna help you calm your body down. So that’s sort of like step one. It’s I’m super calm, I’m physically keeping you safe. If a child’s already done the biting and the other child’s hurt, again, I’m physically keeping them safe. I’m gonna attend to the child who’s hurt. If it’s just me, make sure they’re okay. Name what happened, sue them, address that. And then I’m gonna go and I’m gonna attend to the child who did the biting and I’m gonna work on calming. I’m not gonna get mad at them. I’m going to of communicate my boundary.
(10:56):
I think we get a lot of parents who will say, I’ll do the, I’m not gonna let you bite. And it’s not working. They’re still biting. And this I think requires a little bit of a shifting the expectations of the parents in these circumstances. Sure. I think a lot of parents have this confusion around what is a sign that something’s working, right? I’ve done the, I won’t let you bite, I won’t let you hit, I’m not gonna let you do this. I’ve held the boundary. And I think what a lot of parents expect or are using to determine whether or not they’ve been successful, is their regulation on the part of the child is their cooperation, are they able to follow and respect the boundary that we’ve set? That’s success when in fact, I think really what I do with parents is try to help them manage their expectations.
(11:57):
You holding the boundary, I won’t let you bite. That’s the end of your job. That’s the success. What happens after that could be really messy, really ugly, really a whole shit show. The child could really lose their shit after you have told them that they can’t do this thing that’s not safe. And we’re still gonna consider that a success from a parenting standpoint. You’ve held the boundary, the child’s had their big meltdown, but they’re, you’re not letting them bite. You’re not letting them bite because you’re physically moving your body away or you’re moving, removing them from the proximity to the other child. They can’t bite if they’re not near anybody to bite. And it, that’s the success. And I think a lot of them, the work is outside of these intervention, these he heated moments in the intervention of stopping the biting is preparing environments and helping a child in these cool calm moments, learn strategies for assertiveness skills, walking away, getting help. But that’s not something that you’re gonna be worried about in the moment of the biting, in the moment of the biting. We’re just physically preventing them from biting and that’s it. That’s done our job,
Dr. Emily (13:25):
I mean the way I think about it is exactly your point. There’s, there’s a two prong approach. One is in the moment and it’s, I call it weathering that wave, weathering that storm and the skill that we’re teaching parents is really to build your tolerance to that. You set a boundary and you have to build your tolerance. If there’s a response first, if there’s a big reaction, we expect it, we’re ready for it and we are able to weather it. And in that moment that might look like sitting on the floor with your back against your kid’s door, holding them in your lap. That’s what it might look like. It might look messy, it might not look like an aha moment for the child. But on the other hand, the other prong is a lot of what you’re talking about is prophylactic work. Setting the stage, preparing child’s children for transitions, giving them some alternative coping mechanisms. A lot of expression and assertiveness I think is a big part of biting specifically in terms of oral stunting and oral stimulation and the trying to express yourself in a certain way that you can’t. So I think that that’s the other piece that we keep in mind is the preventative side. So there’s the moment side and then there’s this more, how can we set up the environment and the child for success to try to use a different methodology to get their needs met.
Dr. Sarah (14:50):
Yeah. Okay. So we’ve got this two pronged approach. We are going to in the moment, maintain safety. We’re going to not allow the biting, we’re going to set the boundary and we’re also gonna tolerate the meltdown or whatever happens afterwards. That’s our child’s feelings about our boundary is not a sign that our boundary didn’t work as long as nobody is biting anymore, we’ve done our job. The big meltdown is perhaps part of it and we have to accept that that’s a part of it and it’s okay. But then let’s talk about the other part. I think that second prong of this way of conceptualizing, supporting, biting in children is actually the more important part. And we talked a little bit about the different understanding why behind the biting is gonna inform this part of our approach. So let’s talk a little bit like, let’s talk about strategies for if your child’s sort of sensory seeking and the biting is coming a lot is up a lot in the form of oral gratification or exploring their environment, navigating social situations, navigating over stimulation, all that stuff. And then let’s talk a little bit about, no, I’m just really, really, really mad and this is what happened.
Dr. Emily (16:17):
Sure. I mean I think in the sensory seeking sort of realm, some of the strategies are, I really love giving kids literally something to put in their mouth. And so this can really help. We see fighting a lot during transition times or times of flux. So I will say give a child something with a lot of feedback and to eat a bagel or something as they transition into activities or something along those lines. For little children that’s easier in the form of pretzels or something like that. For older children you could even use gum or a sugar free gum. Just so gives them a little bit of that satiates that if that’s not a possibility, you can give them some oral stimulation basically before they engage in an activity. So give them something really tough to eat before they go to school. A really chewy bagel with cream cheese, you’re really trying to the notice sort of get it out, get that sort of need met and then allow them to engage in the activity that doesn’t allow for that.
Dr. Sarah (17:25):
Yeah. I would say too if just because they’re some, and you gotta know your kids’ body and nervous system, but some kids it’s oral stimulation is the only outlet or of that release for that kind of pent up uncomfortable feel emotional energy. And so using oral input, sensory input stuff is gonna be the best way to go. But we have to remember that not all of our sensory input has to be matched up. If my kid is biting, it might be that they need, we can hit that release valve for them in other types of sensory input. So there’s an episode that I did with Laura Petix who is an ot where she goes through all these different types of sensory regulation exercises you can do that I think would be really useful to go back and listen to if this is resonating with you, oh that’s totally my kid.
(18:21):
I would check out that episode because there’s other things you can do beyond just physically addressing the oral stuff. I also think you can get there and I’ve see I’ve recommended this to patients that I work with, but they have chewy bracelets or chewy necklaces that your kid can really, cuz you’re not always gonna be with them and you’re not always gonna be have a bagel to pop in their mouth. So these bracelets are very subtle, especially for older kids who they don’t wanna be chewing on a teether. You give that to your one or two year old but a six year old, they have cool bracelets, they’ve got rubber dog tag necklaces, things that pass as cool but also are things they could subtly put in their mouth. They also have pencil toppers. So there are lots of cool stuff out there now for kids who need that sensory input that are subtle but serve that same function of regulating their nervous system.
Dr. Emily (19:21):
I think that’s also really important that there’s talking about sensory seekers, there’s different types of sensory behaviors. The sensory seekers you’re right can be, it’s not necessarily oral, it could also be popping your kid in a trampoline before they go to school for a few minutes. There’s other ways and I think it would be great to visit that episode and see the menu of things in your toolbox that you can do to help soothe that.
Dr. Sarah (19:48):
Yes. And then I think, so we could talk about just like, okay, if we’re, we’re interpreting this behavior as a sign that their nervous system needs a little regulation, a little release those are strategies. But also we wanna think about the fact that whether our kid is getting super, super frustrated and that’s why they’re biting or our kid is maybe this is a pattern of how they engage with their environment. Either way we wanna prepare them, we wanna prepare them ahead of time for tricky situations like transitions, playdates where they’re gonna have to share toys or have kids taking their things or where they’re going to playground in their personal space might not be respected by other kids. Little kids on the playground. Little kids are very unpredictable and they can very unexpectedly surprise our child with a behavior they weren’t prepared for. And that can activate a sense of threat in them that results in biting and it’s not.
(20:55):
So we as parents wanna be thinking ahead where, what’s the environment we’re about to enter into? Is it highly unpredictable? If it is, and I know my child struggles with biting when they’re really overwhelmed, then I’m gonna wanna bodyguard them. I’m gonna wanna be close. It doesn’t mean I need to helicopter my kid, I just wanna be close enough and paying attention so that if I notice those signs and your kid’s got signs that they’re moving up that thermometer of dysregulation, you can step in faster, you can step in before potential biting happens. And obviously we wanna be able to talk to our friends at the playground and not be eagle eyeing our child the whole time. But if your kid is biting, you might wanna practice these strategies a few times because if we can get there intervene before the biting happens because we’re watching our child’s cues, it’s a lot easier for a child to learn where the boundaries are and to avoid those big giant kind of collisions with reality that happen when after the bite has happened.
Dr. Emily (22:09):
And I think another way to do that is I, completely echoing, think about the specific situation you’re going to be in and think about what that might look like. I think a strategy that I use a lot in treatment is maybe role play that out with your kid ahead of time. Give them a couple examples and then also give them some replacement behaviors. You can stomp your feet, you can squeeze your fists, you can come to me and ask for help. So I think it’s important to even at a very young age, give kids alternative strategies and give them scenarios and troubleshoot it with them. Well what if somebody takes your toy? What do you think will happen? What could you do instead? And I think that really helps to create a little bit of autonomy cuz you’re right, I think we wanna get in there to scaffold, but our ultimate goal is to be able to scaffold enough so that we can drop away those scaffolds and let them fly a little on their own. And so I think, but doing a little bit of mirroring them and buddying them is great. And then remind them of those conversations you had beforehand. Remember we talked about this, you know what to do, you’ve got this right.
Dr. Sarah (23:22):
And that’s why I love when you talk about scaffolding, that’s why I love, okay, I’m picturing a situation where I know my kid tends to bite when something, they get really upset. So at the playground I’m watching them and I don’t need to, I’m not hovering cuz that’s not gonna be helpful for me or for them, but I’m watching. And if I notice that something’s frustrating them and a kid’s getting close, they’re in the sandbox and a kid’s sitting right next to ’em and is digging where they’re digging and is reaching for their stuff, that’s a good cue. And I could see my kids getting a little Wrigley grunting a little bit. I might get close.
(24:03):
That might be the only scaffolding I need. My presence might be enough to help my child figure this out on their own. If they continuing to escalate, I might start to say, and remember you’ve practiced ahead of time so you have shared language around this. I think he wants to put his hand where you’re playing and you don’t like that. What can you do? Oh I think I see you getting kind of upset. What can you do right now? So you’re coaching them in the moment to solve their own problem. You’re not just coming in and saying, I won’t let you bite. They haven’t bitten. You are saying you’re meeting them where they’re at in that moment and saying, I see you’re getting frustrated. So you’re narrating a little bit of this exchange. You’re not solving the problem. You’re not saying, why don’t you give him that toy?
(24:52):
Or why? Or asking the little boy to go away. You’re just narrating for your child calmly. Oh I see. He really wants to dig where you wanna dig. That’s frustrating. What can you do here? What could you say? What do you need? And I’m not, maybe pick one of those questions, not three in a row, but so you’re trying to help coach your kid and when you can, this is why I love these in vivo moments where you catch it before it happens and you can calmly coach them. That’s where a lot of great learning happens, but it’s a delicate space to be in because it can flip fast and if they do bite you set or if they go into that, you say, oh nope, I can’t let you do that. Oh I’m gonna bring you over here. You can’t handle this right now. So it’s a little bit of an art form of tuning into your kid in these moments and it is more work, but it’s really good education for them in these moments. And it’s more likely to reduce the instances of biting in the future.
Dr. Emily (25:56):
I always say it’s also, you’re not gonna be in this space forever. Your child’s not gonna go to college biting. So you’re right, it’s more work. But I think it’s pretty finite, right? It’s in the grand scheme of things. If we can pull back a little bit, it’s like you’re gonna invest this time but it’ll, it’s really time limited and it’ll be worth this sort of skill that they can take for frustration tolerance period.
Dr. Sarah (26:22):
Yeah.
Dr. Emily (26:22):
Just for this particular instant that they can take with them to better build on that frustration tolerance going forward.
Dr. Sarah (26:30):
And then again, let’s say we missed the bite and it happened and we deal with separating them and we help everybody calm down. I would say my strategy then is later, not immediately after they’ve calmed down, but maybe that night when you’re reading your bedtime stories and everybody’s cuddly and in a good mood and feeling really regulated and feeling really safe. I might go back with my child over what happened. And again, I’m going to be really curious. First I’m just gonna sort of again do the narrating. Hey, you were really upset at the playground today when that kid was digging near you he was digging right where you wanted to dig and I don’t think you liked that very much. You got pretty upset and you bit him, didn’t you? What was going on for you? What did you feel? And for very young kids, they may not be able to give you an answer, you might give them the answer.
(27:24):
I think you were feeling really mad that he was doing that and you didn’t like that. And for older kids you might say, what did you feel? My daughter will probably be like, I was mad. I didn’t like that. She might parrot words that I’ve already said to her or she might give me information that I didn’t even know. He kept putting his foot right on my foot and was really bothering me. Something I missed something new information. And so a lot of times when we come in, validating them first, not lecturing them, not telling them that was bad but just it’s done is done. At this point we’re just trying to process with them. So going in with this sort of open curiosity, you might get a little bit of information for your kids and it also allows them to practice these language of reflecting on a feeling they might have had and putting a name to it.
(28:22):
When I have access to the part of my thinking brain where this stuff is starting to get built up in and then we can then from there, once we’ve done this sort of narrating the situation and giving them some language for what had happened, then we can talk about expectations. It’s really not okay to bite even when you’re really mad. So what can you do instead? Next time you really wanted him to not, and this is where I think people get mixed up. I think they think we have to teach them bitings bad and give them all the reasons why biting is bad so that they don’t bite next time. Kids don’t bite cuz they don’t know it’s bad. That’s just not a process that occurs to them in the moment. Kids bite because they have no other way to get what they need in that moment.
(29:08):
So instead of teaching them why bitings bad, I think it’s way more helpful to teach them what can they do to get what they need more effectively next time. So you really wanted him to push, not put his foot on you or you really wanted him to dig in a different spot. What can you do? Can you go move to a different spot? Can you say, stop, I don’t like that. Can you come get me? These are things that you can do next time. If our child is successful next time at getting what they need, there’s not going to be a bite. So we don’t have to convince them all the reasons why biting is bad. That’s not really part of the equation in the moment. So I think that’s really useful in that debrief time is the education and skill building around more effective behaviors. Because if our kids can get what they want, they won’t bite. And it’s not that we just give them what they want because we’re permissive and they should always be happy. It’s that we need to give kids skills for being assertive, for having healthy, effective boundaries with other people. And if they do that, they don’t get pushed up against a wall where they then move into that threat stance and that’s when we see those kinds of aggressive behaviors pop out.
Dr. Emily (30:27):
Absolutely. I think a debrief is really, really important for learning. The goal of this is learning. We really want them to be able to see, discuss, be open, see what their point of view is, label what’s happened, sort of give them alternative behaviors, but then we also wanna be able to express to them what’s gonna happen next time. If we can’t do this, we don’t have the tools to be able to do this, we have to practice this kind of stuff. Cuz if we don’t, the next time we might have to leave the park. I think the behavioral consequences are actually pretty important. I always say give them a chance to succeed, but if they’re not successful, I think it’s very important to remove them from the situation and it that’s enough of the punishment. You don’t have to have ongoing conversations after you’ve removed them, but you do want them to know the consequence is removal from the situation. That’s the punishment in and of itself sort of, right? Parents are always asking, but then what do I say to them then how do I punish them? And I really want them to understand the behavioral consequence of leaving an event that you wanna be at is the punishment or is the repercussion or consequence? The language is interchangeable, but it’s really important that we don’t miss that step because that’s also a really important step in the learning process.
Dr. Sarah (31:50):
Yes, I couldn’t agree more. And I also think it’s very important, this distinction that a punishment is the behavioral consequence, not our affect, right? We don’t can take our child away from a park without being stern or angry or really animated. We could say, Ugh, you couldn’t do it without biting. It’s not safe. I’ve gotta take you home now we’re gonna go home. I see you’re mad. I understand it’s hard to leave the park so we can really be very warm as we execute. That consequence was we bring that consequence into action. So I think that’s very helpful. So basically what we’re saying is we’re going to, before we do anything, before we even get to a situation where a child might be biting, we’re gonna be thinking about our kids’ behaviors, their patterns, their vulnerabilities. We’re gonna anticipate times where they might be biting or might be vulnerable to bite.
(32:43):
We’re gonna prepare them in advance. We’re gonna think about their sensory needs. We’re gonna think about their frustration tolerance. We’re gonna monitor closely from afar so we can scaffold if they need us, we can come in and coach in the moment if we’ve missed it. We just keep maintain safety and address the safety issue. And then after it’s all done, when kids are calm, when everyone’s feeling safe, connected, we do the debrief, which is where we narrate the situation. We offer alternative strategies, we teach ways for them to get their needs met more effectively next time. And then we introduce or let them know what the expectation is and what will happen if that expectation isn’t met. If you can’t be safe, we’ll have to leave the park and that’s it. That’s you’re done. And it’s like rinse, repeat, right? You might have to do this.
(33:32):
A lot of times kids take a lot of repetition to learn new skills. And so we also, that’s another thing. You have to have reasonable expectations, not just for what’s appropriate behavior, when our children are really dysregulated and what’s our job versus their job, but also how long this process can take and how many iterations of it might have to happen before you see a shift in the behavior. And that’s okay. Kids learn at their own pace. Thank you Emily, for coming on. I think this is always just so much fun to do these q and as with you and we’ll see you at the next one. Yeah. So great to dive in.
(34:11):
Thanks for listening. In this episode, we offered you some strategies you can use outside of the heat of the moment to prevent biting from happening in the first place. One of those is helping your child build their emotion regulation skills, which is vital for equipping them with the tools to self soothe when they become dysregulated.
(34:30):And that’s why I created a free guide that teaches you fun and simple games you can play with your child that actually strengthens these skills. This free resource, Reduced Tantrums Before They Even Begin, teaches you five activities that will help your child strengthen important regulation skills like learning to breathe, inhibiting impulses and calming their bodies. You’ll know they’re learning, but they’ll just think they’re playing. To download this and many other free guides, go to drsarahbren.com/resources. That’s drsarahbren.com/resources. Until next Tuesday, don’t be a stranger.
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