My son thinks he is a dinosaur and bites when he plays

My three year old had a minor biting problem when he was about one. It went away and came back when he was about two. Now he has been obsessed with dinsaurs and the biting stil continues. My baby sitter and i are trying to find something we both can do to work as a team to try and change his habbit. I have removed all of his dinosaur toys, tried time outs, removed him from children at daycare (hehas bittin there a few times). i have tried re focusing him, and of course what seems like everyone has done i have tired bitting him back. None of these have worked for me doews anyone have other ideas or tips to get him to stop getting overly excited ( i have only seeen him bite out of frutraion about twice and that was me not kids when he bites ids its always been over excitement thinking he is a dinosaur.)   thank you

[mommy_of_three88]

biting is very common among this age, still it is not fun. The best thing you can do is to not make a big deal of it every time. Also, I think that taking away all of his dinosaur things is not a great idea. You don't want to teach him that playing or pretending are bad, just that biting is not how to do it. Teach him that dinosaurs don't bite, they just roar and they only bite their food when they are eating it. Play "dinosaur" with him. Teach him to put his hands up and roar, but tell him, we don't bite because it hurts and it's not nice. Tell him that it is okay and fun to run, chase, roar, and jump. Let him watch how other children play without hurting each other, take him to the park and point out how 2 children are playing by chasing each other, ect. (Also watching Barney is a great way to show him the correct way to play pretend). One thing I learned awhile ago and it has helped me profusely is that children don't always hear every word in a sentence. So if they are wound and not paying close attention when you say "don't bite" they may just hear the word bite. This is part of the reason why you have been told to redirect and not to focus on the negative behavior because that is all they will focus on as well. hope this helps.