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I would say the majority of biting occurs in toddlers - as yes, by 3 they definitely do know better. In babies biting is often a form of exploration - testing things out with the teeth, toddlers often do it in frustration - not getting a toy from another child, etc. But by 3, the child will know they are doing the wrong thing.
babies is totally different. They often bite for the hell of it, or when they are getting teeth. They don't bite to hurt you. They might bite for a reaction (my son does and he is 6 months) but he smiles at me when I yelp. He is also teething atm.
Is your child in a mixed room? Or a 3-5 room? How old is the child that is hurting her?
I think there is a lack of communication happening between you and the service your DD attends and that you need to organise a meeting with them to discuss the issues you have. Making assumptions about the staff and the biter isn't helpful to you and i'm sure you would feel much better to get this off your chest. These people look after your most precious possesion and you need to be able to talk openly with them. Ask them what strategies they have in place for dealing with the biter.
In regards to removing the child, this is a difficult thing to do in terms of equal opportunity and is an absolute last resort. The service may be trying to implement strategies to help the child which you are not aware of. As mentioned it would be a great idea for you to impower your DD to stick up for herself and to say "stop" in a big voice.
Snugglybean - I understand what your saying about overstimulaion on the walls in CCC. I have done inservice training in this area and am all to aware of the impact this can have on children. However, in my experience this doesn't mean that children don't hit, bite or hurt others. In the centre where I work we only have minimal art displays and the required policies etc on the walls but biting still occurs from time to time. As ausgirl said, some children are just biters. Often children who bite don't just do it in care but do it in other social situations as well.
I have issue with the negative slant you place on all private childcare. It is wrong to say that it doesn't attract as good a staff and often young staff are great because they have lots of enthusiasm and are up to date on best practice. There should be balance in any service with staff and as I have stated in another thread, the private centre I work for is overstaffed. I understand that some private services do give us all a bad name but I have worked in 2 community based centre's which had there own issues. Every centre needs to be treated individually. Independent private centre's are actually on par with community based centre's when it comes to quality. I am pretty anti ABC (also anti McDonalds)but thats just from the ones around where I live and maybe there are some good ones out there and i'm certainly sure that there are some great child care workers working in them as we can't all work in community based centres. I'm sorry to go off topic abit but I am very passionate about this. It's this type of attitude that gets childcare workers nowhere. We all need to stick together and acknowledge that we can't do without eachother and work together for better conditins instead of fighting.
Yes I agree totally. I get really tired about the negative spin that is always put on childcare in the media - I am sure you could all understand just how hard it is to do your job on a daily basis when you wake up and there is yet another negative report on childcare in the media - whether it be some silly old bat who thinks writing excellent children's stories qualifies her to have an opinion, or some other report about how damaging childcare is to infants. Until childcare starts getting some positive support, how is anyone supposed to have the courage to improve it?:
It's this type of attitude that gets childcare workers nowhere. We all need to stick together and acknowledge that we can't do without eachother and work together for better conditins instead of fighting.
I also took a particular dislike to the feeling I took from this statement:
Yes we hate it, does anyone like having management breathing down their necks? But we hate it because we'd much prefer to work with our families to solve their issues. The feeling I get from that statement (and I may be wrong), is that centres have something to hide and deserve to get management in to check up on them.:
the next level of management involved (they hate this)
This is just my opinion, I worked in childcare - and have a son, so I'm seeing two sides of the situation.
Firstly, it would break my heart, I wouldn't put my own son in care because I wouldn't be able to control what was happening to him, I'm a hypocrit, but I just couldn't do it and I really admire mothers (and fathers) who have the strength to put their child in care.
Secondly, its really hard when on child is hitting/biting/bullying another - because its one persons precious baby hurting another persons precious baby - its a no-win situations for the carers! Its horrible, it was the worst part of my job filling out accident reports and explaining to parents that their child was hurt one way or another while in my care, but sometimes there is nothng the carer can do.
BUT LASTLY, I think you childcare center has handled it poorly. It sounds like they dont want to own up to whats going on because they dont want you to think its a poorly managed center - but like, when you came to them the first time, had they sat down and worked out an action plan, would you feel more confident with them? Honestly, I think its disgusting that they didn't have an accident report for her lip, and as someone else mentione they should have called you before you came to let you know so it wasn't a shock when you arrived to pick her up, and they should have done the same for any of the followig injuries, as when its an ongoing issue, you're stacking up evidence that says to you that the carers have no idea whats going on and they dont care - this might not be the case, but its definately how it appears.
Had they done all that, when accidents happen, mistake are made, children just be children, it wouldn't feel so much like the carers simply dont care. Yeah?
Anyway, thats just my opinion.
I think you need to talk to the director rather than the child carers involved and/or put your name on some other waiting lists and hope for the best.
Also, I like OlivesMummies suggestion - at my old centre we'd teach the children to put their palm forward and say in a big loud voice "stop, I dont like that" - too cute seeing a 2 year old say that to a 7 month old who's nicked their toy - but also useful for the older children, as when the child whos htting hears that, they often do stop and take note.