biteing and hair pulling! help

[chloeb2002]

ok so im trying not to worry by DD who is now eating well again and settled at nursery at 16 1/2 months has started to bite! she has bitten me once on my shouder and as an initial response she got a prod in her cheek and she let go unhappy but hasnt tried it since to me... but today at nursery they pointed out that she had bitten one of the other little darlings! they did attempt to justlfy it ... teething, a mistake....etc add to this a trend for hair pulling in an attempt to manouver ather little peopel she seems to be becoming a thug. To an extent i figure she is just a normal nearly two year old??she too has come back from nursry with a bitten finger, that i just shrugged off, but i appreciate that others may not be so liberal. so any advise and when do i worry that she has some 'problem'?

[handlemecarefully]

Its normal, normal, normal. And to be honest I feel for you because you can be made to feel bad about it by other mums. My 18 month dd doesn't bite, but she is not above a bit of pushing and shoving (and hair pulling)to get a toy she wants...and although I always tick her off, I still get dirty looks from mums who are lucky enough (and it is LUCK) to have more reticent toddlers.

In Toddler Taming by Dr Chris Green he says:

"In general toddlers are not renowned for their Good Samaritan attitudes. They tend to be jealous, self centred and not talented in sharing or seeing the others point of view....When someone else has the toy they want, it is quite likely that toddlers will grab it, push the other child over and in general lay on an antisocial scene. Our role here is to encourage a more accepting attitude in the child without having a nervous breakdown in the process"

I love this man - he made me realise that my dd isn't an aggressive little monster - just normal!...and so is yours!!!

[aloha]

She is not a thug. The answer is always the same, ignore the bad behaviour, praise the good, and try to spot the signals and intervene before anything bad happens.