3 yr old incident

[Emma23455]

Just after some advice is possible as I'm feeling down at the moment about this situation!
my DS is 3.5 and today at nursery he had an incident with another boy. My son was playing with a toy when another boy came over and tried to take the toy of my DS and was repeatedly shouting at my son. In the end my DS retaliated and bit him.. obviously I'm disgusted with my DS behaviour but the nursery staff told me they could see the situation happening but left it to see how it would unfold. I feel my son done it out of threat and I'm upset the staff didn't intervene when they saw the boy snatching and shouting at my DS. I'm really upset with my DS with his reaction but I don't know how to discipline him for this. Any advice, or if anyone has been in a similar situation I would be greatful to hear :(

I wouldn't be disciplining a child for retaliating when he was under threat.

I would be reconsidering the Nursery though.

I would be secretly a bit pleased lol! He needs to learn it's not ok to be violent but he needs to learn that it absolutely IS ok to stick up for himself too. I definitely wouldn't be doing anything further to discipline him. It's done and presumably nursery let him know that it's not acceptable. He might not even remember it. You could try just talking to him about it and saying we don't hit and show him how to keep hold of toys assertively instead but it's done so don't hold grudges. I agree it doesn't sound brilliantly handled by nursery. If my child was the aggressor in this case I would've removed them or expected their carer to remove them wsy before it got to this point. I wouldn't be too upset. Kids do these kind of things occasionally. X

I really needed to hear this, Thankyou so much for the replies and clarifying what I was thinking! Im gonna have a chat if I can at drop off tomorrow morning and let them know if a situation happens again I need them to intervene and show my son how to handle it correctly. I guess I'm worried too as he starts school this September and I don't want him reacting this way! X

Seriously this is a common situation in a nursery. Normally it,s more like 2 year olds but some 3 year olds bite too. I would keep an eye on and ask nursery to keep a close eye when those children are together. It may be a one off. But some children go through bitting stages so worth keepeing a close eye. Don,t blame the nursery it can happen anywhere.

He's our first too so these 'phases' are all new to us! The nursery is brilliant, I'm just upset 3 yr olds were left to handle an overwhelming situation themselves. I agree keeping them apart. Do we think I should have a Conversation with him in the morning before nursery or not bring it back up again?

Don,t bring it up. Especially if no other behavioural issues.

So he went to nursery today and all good thankfully! I think I'm anxious because he went through the 'biting' phase last year ( only actually happened a hand full of times but still wasn't nice) and I thought we were past it as it as it's been months and months. Now I'm worried that's it started up again, has anyone been through anything similar I.e regressing back to old stages?

Children do often regress if they're poorly and the Nursery clearly handled this very poorly. I really wouldn't worry about it.