Ex bit ds

[Aroundcoffeetable]

My son is 2 and is spending the day with his daddy. He was running around with his brother and got overexcited and bit his dad's jumper, unfortunately catching skin at the same time, the ex instantly grabbed the 2 year olds arm and bit him back, he's just spent 5 minutes crying and has a red mark. Not acceptable is it?

I took a pic at the time, just as well as its gone now.

This is the sort of thing my mum and friends did in the early 80s, same as smacking. Maybe your ex had it done to him as a child so didn't think it though much.

Have you spoken to him about it and why he did it? Tbh you can't see any teeth marks in your picture, I've seen children bite and break the skin.

OwlinaTree I was going say the same thing. In the 1980s when I was little I remember my Mum doing this to me once as I had bit a sibling badly and on purpose. I also remember other kids having it done to them by parents .

Wouldn't do it to my own DC though, as I don't think it's acceptable. Saying that I never bit anyone again and it did me no harm , but it was many years ago and things have changed, for example smacking was widely accepted and everyone I knew of my age, including myself, was smacked.

How horrible and not really a way to send a message that biting is unacceptable. People may have done this in the '80s' (although I was a naughty child in the 80s and nobody ever bit me...) but people did a lot of things in the 80s that you should know better about now.

I would be absolutely livid I have a nearly 2 year old and I would be the one being arrested if an adult bit my son. Biting a child is bloody abuse literally! Im shocked that anyone could think this is ok 2 is not exactly a child neither its a baby your poor ds op.

Thanks all. I feel so sad, it feels like I've let my children down by allowing contact. I left him for being an abusive knob and I've only allowed contact (I supervise) as I worry if I stopped that he may go to court and get access unsupervised.

I know that this used to be common practice. I remember my dad biting my brother after my brother had bitten me and broken the skin. It's not acceptable though. The problem with this situation is that it was his knee jerk, instant reaction. He wasn't able to stop and think for a minute about whether it was appropriate or not, he just did it. It's that inability to control an impulse that is the bigger worry.

well, yes, many things used to be the "done thing", but even then you can't get away from the fact that it is usually an adult, teaching the child a lesson, which is just horrible in most (sane) people's eyes. I would be furious if I was you, OP, you poor thing, and your poor little boy. THere are many ways of teaching a toddler that biting is wrong, none of which include the "biting him back" approach.

I would just like to add that I don't think biting a child is the correct approach to this issue. I was simply explaining a reason why the dh may have acted in this way eg it was done to him etc.

Have you spoken to him about it OP?