We have a biter...

This week Evan has bitten 2 four year olds, a baby, his sitter, a pediatrician and a little kid in the waiting room at a doctor's office. His bites are pure evil too. He will look at you afterwards like he has done a good deed, like that person really needed to be bitten. Most of the bites are completely random and unwarranted. These people usually don't do anything to provoke the bite. I say usually because I have seen kids get bitten after ripping a toy out of my child's hands. That being said, biting is never ok. 

When you have a biter, people look at you like you are the worst mom in the world. I didn't do anything to cause this and I don't encourage the behavior. I knew Evan was going to be a handful when he started throwing tantrums at 7 months. Here we are 9 months later and those baby tantrums are a thing of the past. People keep telling me to ignore the behavior, correct the behavior, give a time out, and punish the kid. All that is easier said than done. And all the advice? Totally inconsistent. When he bites at home I cover his mouth, but he thinks that is fun. When he has a tantrum I usually try to ignore it, but he usually wants to be picked up. If you don't pick him up at the right moment, he will hit or bite you because you took too long to tend to his needs. By nature toddlers are selfish beings, the world revolves around them and their needs.

I am not seeking advice here, but sharing a real parenting challenge that I am facing. I can see why parents choose to spank their kids even though its controversial. A quick swat on the butt could work for the defiant/evil/selfish baby. Ok, I'll admit it. He has been spanked twice, over the diaper and pants. Once was today when he started hitting and pulling my hair as I put him in his car seat. It was after I tried talking him into sitting down in my gentle and then stern voice to no avail. Well one swift, not painful but probably scary, swat on the butt and it was a miracle and he sat down looked at me with sad-I'm-so-sorry-mommy eyes and let me buckle him in. I hugged him and said sorry. And he looked at me like he understood why he got spanked and wasn't mad. It made everything calm. 

Now I know what "they" say about hitting. Spanking will teach your child to hit. Evan already hits and no one taught him to hit when he's mad. I did not beat my child within an inch of his life there was no switch or paddle involved. He didn't hit me back when he got spanked and he was not angry as a result of it. People, even doctors, say that when your kid bites you, bite him back. But hitting.... oh no! call "the people". Frankly, I find biting to be much more painful than hitting. Spanking is about discipline and not hitting.  An occasional spank probably won't send him into years of therapy.