Zombie Toddlers and Animal Habit

A toddler bit my son, twice: two separate occasions. I received only one report yesterday, as the biter was caught in action, reportedly over being accidentally bumped into by my kid. I don't necessarily buy that and I'm still livid because biological nature to see my DNA into adulthood is real, y'all. The "Is Wayne Brady Going to Have To" is strong with this one.

Jacob has what looks like bite marks on his shoulder, which if true, were likely sustained two days ago in which the biter sunk his teeth into my butterball and yoinked his cookie from him. Makes sense. When I came in that day, he was lying down looking sad on a frog pillow.

Before I sound too much of a sanctimommy, hear me out. 

I'm not under the delusion that my son will never do any wrong, much less bite to get his way. But I can tell you, I expect timeout (1 minute per 1 year of age) to be used effectively to discourage future episodes. Animals, including humans, can learn and kids are smarter than we often credit them with being.

Now to the meat: there are behaviors in my classroom I want to cease. If I fail to address them, they continue. Children of any age can be trained to not do certain undesirable things, and they must be. Biology has hard wired limit pressing and exploration into their nature. It is discovery, risk, and redirection that teach them how to navigate the world.