DS turned two in September. Today at a new playgroup he bit a three year old boy on the hand. I didn’t see it as I was changing the baby but my MIL was with him who said it all happened too fast to stop him. He’s never bitten before so this is new.
I came out of the changing room to find the mum of the bitten child berating my MIL who was nearly in tears and extremely apologetic. I asked what happened and got her child’s slightly reddened hand waved in my face and was told my toddler aggressively attacked hers and that he ought to be supervised better and that it wasn’t normal behaviour. She said it was something she’s never experienced with her own children or others and she expects playgroups to be a safe space for her child and maybe my child shouldn’t be at a playgroup if I was unable to manage his “aggression”.
I was a bit taken aback by her ferocity and I just apologised again and explained he hadn’t bitten before but we would keep a closer eye on him. Her child was asking for a breastfeed so at that point she ignored what I was saying and walked off to sit down and feed her son. My MIL took the baby so I could follow my son around as he was enjoying playing. Bitten child’s mum at this point was enjoying telling people what had happened and had a bit of an audience around her. She loudly requested an ice pack and the first aid kit from the volunteers for her son and I just tried to ignore the very pointed looks she was throwing my way.
My MIL tried to make amends by asking if she could buy the little boy a cake from the counter which was rejected as there was nothing that was dairy-free for him. We then decided to go as it was all feeling a little uncomfortable and as we were putting our shoes on we were stopped again by the mum who handed me a card with details of a parenting class she thought I might benefit from. The whole thing was starting to feel so bizarre I just thanked her and asked if her little boy was okay. She said they are also about to leave as he’s been traumatised by the whole experience and that she hopes my son gets the help he needs.
It all just seemed a massive overreaction to me but maybe I’m in the wrong (in which case I’ll go to the parenting class!) Putting it to mumsnet to see if I should have handled it differently.
YABU - my DS is a thug in the making and we would benefit from parenting classes to prevent any future traumatising of children.
YANBU - bitten kids mum is a bit of a drama llama, toddlers sometimes go through this phase and the one apology should have been sufficient.