When a relative bites your child

Theres a reason we don’t parent children like dogs.

Should we start taking our 2 year olds outside for a shit?

Many people do that indeed. And many people are f**king insane.

I’ve worked in animal rescue for decades and puppies know their human owners aren’t just giant fleshy dogs. They are massively intelligent and understand our body language so much better than we understand theirs. It isn’t hard to teach a puppy not to play nip without biting them like a psychopath.

What ? You just sat there after someone assaulted your child meek as a mouse ?

What is wrong with people ?

Maybe we should all just bite our children once they turn around 2 years old, even if they haven’t bitten anyone. Might as well show them what it’s like so they don’t start doing it. Why wait until they start biting to teach the lesson! Maybe give them a slap and good hair pull as well, get ahead of that.

People claiming they bit their children but “not to hurt them” so they would “know what it’s like”…how did they “know what it’s like” if you didn’t do it to hurt them? That doesn’t make a whole lotta sense.

Many people do give puppies a gentle nip in response to a bite. (It’s what their own mothers do to the puppies to discourage them from biting her). Another technique some people use when puppies mouth hands, is to give a slight pull on their tongues.

Thanks for this, I agree.

Nah, I’d have absolutely none of that.

By their logic did you bite them to teach them not to bite your child? Perhaps you need to (seemingly).

How they disciplined their own children is their own business, but there’s no need to be biting children.

Respecting elders BS is what leads to children being in compromising positions and not speaking up. Adults who do not act appropriately don’t get my respect.

Sorry, what??

Legally an adult is an adult and a child is a child. The criminal age of responsibility is ten in the UK.

I would have gone ballistic honestly and wouldn’t allow my child anywhere near them again.

That’s disgraceful and age is absolutely no excuse.

I fully agree.

All these posters advocating biting a child to stop them biting… have none of you ever trained a puppy? Because I’m guessing you didn’t bite a puppy back?

It's against the law to bite children.
Whatever the reason.
Hope that helps.

Presumably, you were being ineffective in stopping your child biting others and perhaps other annoying behaviours?

If that’s the case, then I’d support the grandparent. Presumably, they didn’t draw blood but just gave the child pause for thought?

Ineffective parenting is the bane of everyone’s lives at the moment.

35 years ago my usually very calm and gentle DM bit my DN because they kept biting their younger sibling. This was in front of my DSis. DSis was so shocked she said nothing, but mentioned it to me several times afterwards. I think she's still shocked. It was old school back then.

The biter in this instance obviously knows they did wrong because they're lying about it. I would take them aside and respectfully tell them exactly what I thought about it. And no, they wouldn't be left alone with the child again.

Sometimes I think I’m not a good enough parent because I occasionally don’t play enthusiastically enough with my DC. Then I come on MN & remember some people justify biting toddlers and I realise I’m doing fine.

I am so very tired of the hyperbolic nonsense around parenting. Just because it’s not the done thing for adults to bite toddlers in 2025 doesn’t mean “no one is disciplining their children anymore” or claims they are “exploring with their mouths”. If people can’t think of a single way to address a toddler biting without biting them too I am deeply embarrassed for those people.

Are you serious? A person with all the power -the adult - bites a child and you don’t think that is abuse because a very young child bit first? Pretty sure the law would not agree with you here.

I also had 1 biter and 2 that never did it, I parented them all the same.

My sister was a biter as a child and constantly bit other kids at nursery and reception. My mum was constantly trying to get her to stop, telling her off etc. The one day my grandma, fed up of constantly hearing at the school gates from the teachers that her grandchild had bitten another child, bit her on the arm to show her what it was like. My mum was mortified and told my grandma she shouldn’t have done it, but to be fair my sister never bit another child again and grew up perfectly adjusted with a wonderful relationship with our grandma.

was it a full on bite or a tiny nip to just say don't do it? Not that they should have done it, but there's a difference. I did pinch my DD when her friends had taught her to pinch and she pinched me, more by automatic reaction than deliberately, but she never did it again.

Can always rely on mumsnet for proof that the dinosaurs are not in fact extinct.

Don't sweetheart me I've got 3 kids and 2 did it one didn't

Some people are so deluded. You really think the fact that your one year old never bit anyone was down to your parenting? Because unless they did it once, how would you even have had the opportunity to parent the behaviour appropriately?

I'm older than 60 and I wouldn't do it

And stapling is barbaric! Even back then!

I hope it cured the child of his or her biting habits. I posted here before how my non-liberal gran cured my little brother and he stopped kicking me (4 years older), on the shin bone repeatedly. I was told my gran was unreasonable, but my brother never kicked anyone ever again.

If the relative had bitten them, would there be teeth marks or bruising?