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What Parents can do to help Nail Biting

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What Parents can do to help Nail Biting

Seeing the red, raw and sometimes swollen appearance of the nails is frustrating especially for a parent of a child who bites his or her nails. Even more aggravating is the fact that trying to address the problem with the child seems to make matters worse. The response to questions about why children are doing this to their poor defenseless fingers is usually a shrug and the phrase that drives parents nuts. “I don’t know.” The key to understanding a child who bites nails is to recognize the little person honestly has no explanation for the habit, and probably isn’t aware of the behavior while performing it. In order to help a child with this mannerism a parent can look for the triggers that cause the behavior and help the child resolve the situation. Nail biting can last long into adulthood, so giving a child a real solution now is sparing your son or daughter shame and anxiety that could otherwise last for years.

When a parent is told that the key element to nail biting is stress it’s normal to wonder, “What kind of stress could a child have?” For very small children especially it might sound silly or overly dramatic to suggest they are under stress. “How tough is kindergarten?” The truth is that yes, in all phrases and times of a person’s life there is anxiety, and tension. Stress is an overall term for the internal reaction a person has toward events or situations that occur in life. Everyone has a different threshold for how much stress can be endured internally before an external behavior will show up.

Watch any classroom in America and a common sight is up to thirty children sitting at desks with their hands in the air vying for recognition and attention. Typically, an adult isn’t in this situation on a daily basis unless he or she works on the New York Stock Exchange. It is almost comical then, to consider a teacher’s first question when the subject of nail biting comes is whether there is stress in the home. Of course, it is also natural that even through a parent will attempt to hide the harsher realities of life from a child there is some measure of stress at home. Kids are remarkably attuned to the emotions of adults around them. They know about bills, arguments, and other tensions that affect their parents even if these facts are never discussed with them.

No amount of love and support can completely protect children from some type of anxiety that will occur throughout the day. What a parent can do is aid a child in learning how to deal with this tension without nail biting. Finding out what triggers the stress in a child and refocusing it will assist a child in dealing with tension throughout a lifetime.

Constantly telling a child to stop biting the nails can have the adverse affect. This really just adds more anxiety to the child’s list of stressful things. Acknowledging this stress and redirecting the child’s behavior to something less harmful is the easiest way to stop the nail biting. Props, like a colorful squeezable ball the child carries can become a substitute to for biting nails. These are important first steps in stopping a pattern that can repeat throughout a child’s life.

What Parents can do to help Nail Biting

What Parents can do to help Nail Biting

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