Tell me this is relatively typical!!?

[procrastinationsupremo]

My daughter, who's nearly 2 and a half, bit another child at nursery today... I'm pretty mortified. She went through a brief biting stage at around 18 months, but this was generally when she was very excited/happy and it was only me and my Mum that she bit. Nursery staff said they thought it was because another child had a toy that she wanted, I don't think this is very likely, she's not at all aggressive, but I guess it's possible... She's an only child, but spends quite a lot of time with friend's kids etc. Nursery staff have also commented that although she's pretty compliant, she doesn't appear at all 'bothered' when told off - just smiles, carries on chatting etc... Any wise words or advice on how to nip this (no pun intended) in the bud?

It is not.unusual for two year olds to bite. MY DS bit once. He has never done it since. I immediately removed him from the situation told him "no" and explained why and he sat with me for a bit. He then went and cuddles his friend and it's forgotten .

I would imagine the instant consequence is most important to a 2 year old. Speaking to her about it now probably won't have the desired affect as she is too little to reflect and still quite little to understand empathy. (Although you can begin to teach empathy at this age)

Are the nursery staff implying she is often in trouble? If they are could you ask them how they deal with it?

I don't think she's in trouble often at nursery. They just happened to mention that on the odd occasion they've had to be firm with her 'it's like water off a duck's back', not in the sense that she doesn't do what she's told, but that she isn't at all troubled/sheepish etc. It sounds like nursery dealt with it well, they took her away from the situation and sat her down with an adult for a few minutes. My husband picked her up, so this has all been relayed through him. I didn't see her till hours later so I definitely don't think she'd have understood if I started to talk about it to her then. I worry a little about her socially because she's VERY keen (almost too keen?) to play with other children, but is just beginning use short 2-3 word sentences and tends to initiate by hugging, grabbing their hand etc. I don't want other children to be put off playing with her, she's so keen to make friends and other children her age seem a little more 'grown up'.

My DS has a very experienced childminder (I’m talking 20 years plus) a few years back.

She said she had never met a child who had not bitten at least once. They don’t even really know it’s wrong until they do it.