Sometimes, Being a Parent Bites

Parenting is hard work.

Definitely the hardest thing I have ever experienced in my 29-year lifetime.

Parenting scares you, surprises you, humbles you, challenges you, makes you a better person, and sometimes forces you to do things you don't want to do.

I had to be a parent last week. 

By putting my foot down and doing something about the biting that was happening at school.

I wasn't keeping track of the incidents at first because I assumed it would get better. And sometimes, it seemed Carson may be provoking the behavior. 

I kept telling myself, biting is a normal occurrence amongst kids. All kids do it. Carson could be the biter some day. That poor kid, he doesn't understand. Those poor parents. I bet they feel awful.

Before I knew it, Carson was getting bit a lot. I'm talking excessive. For a couple weeks, it was almost every day.

So, I started to be more assertive with my questions. I expressed my concerns to the teachers and the school. I heard, The child does bite other children, but Carson gets bit the most. We are aware of the situation and are working with the child. 

I bit my tongue as my child continued to get bit. Carson's the main target...his teacher would say. I hoped and hoped it would get better. It's just a phase, this will pass is what I told myself.

Honestly, maybe it would have passed. I still don't know the answer. Maybe this much biting is completely normal for kids. Is it?

If I had to guess, he probably got bit 15-20 times. The most recent bites were the worst and non-provoked by C. Some of them occurred when they weren't even playing together and the child came up and simply bit him. One on his back stayed around for a week and another on his knee made mama cringe.

Imagine chomp marks on your child's body as if they were a snack. I hated it.

My biggest fear was that Carson was going to turn into a biter. One of these times, he'd retaliate and bite back.

I asked his pediatrician. He confirmed that the children needed to be separated. I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear him say that. No Krista, you're not crazy. This isn't ok.

So that next day, I grew a pair and asked for the children to be separated.

The school was accommodating and moved the child to another room, although, I do feel they should have approached me first with how much it happened.

While I'm extremely happy that Carson won't get bit anymore, I feel for the biter. I feel for the other kids he might bite. I feel for everyone involved, honestly.

I know this is all just part of parenting, but it's hard not to question your judgement, your opinions, your parenting.

Did I do the right thing? Should I have waited longer? How would you have handled it?