Nail biting is considered socially unacceptable. Moreover ragged, bitten nails aren’t attractive, and the act of biting your nails or the sound of nail biting is repulsive to many. Nail biting can also harm your teeth! Even though a third of school aged kids bite their nails, helping your child to stop is the right thing to do.
Nail biting is a very common problem for children. If your child has developed a nail biting habit then they are not alone and it is likely that many of their friends and peers have also picked up the habit. A surprising 50% of children between the ages of 10 and 18 bite their fingernails at one time or another.
It is a bit of a mystery why children start to bite their nails. I have seen possible causes listed as stressful periods at home or at school, boredom or a calcium deficiency. Whatever causes a child to start nail biting it is certainly much harder for them to stop than it is to start in the first place.
What Triggers Your Child to Bite His Nails
Find out what triggers your child to bite his nails. Observe your child before bringing up the subject about stopping. Most likely your child is not even aware how often he bites his nails. Communicate with your child’s teacher to find out what she observes at school. When approaching the subject of stopping, you must try to resolve the issues that made him start and make him continue to bite his nails. This could take some time and in the interim you should help him redirect his biting/chewing urge to a safer, more appropriate outlet.
Once you have narrowed down the events/times that your child bites his nails, discuss the issue with your child. Listen to his side of the story and together come up with a game plan. Point out the health issues, the annoyance it brings to friends and family, the unsightly bitten nails and the wasted time caused by having his fingers in his mouth.
Get Your Child On Board
Your conversation should not put more pressure on your child and exasperate the problem further. If your child in not being teased YET about his nail biting, perhaps it would be best not to mention this as a reason for stopping because this fact would put too much pressure on the youngster. Gently get your child on board so he wants this and will put an effort in stopping.
Enlist Your Teacher’s Help to Stop Nail Biting
Child Chewing Kid Companion Chewelry instead of nail biting Somehow convince your child that having his teacher aware of your plan to stop nail biting will help put an end to this more quickly. The strategies you will use at home, for the most part, can also be used at school. You could devise a signal the teacher can use to help remind your child to stop biting his nails.
This can tactfully be done without any other student noticing. It could be a gentle tap on the shoulder or on your child’s desk, a tug on the lanyard of his chewelry, a request to carry books to a shelf The key, here, is not to nag or embarrass the youngster but to give him a discreet push of encouragement that says to the child, I know it is difficult to stop but give the alternative outlets another try.
If the nail biting is severe and the problem persists, you must dig deeper to find out the root cause of the biting. An evaluation from a health care professional might bring answers.
Tools, Tips and Tactics to Stop Nail Biting
The following are techniques and products to stop nail biting but they must be respectful of others around the child. As an example, kids with sensitive issues will never be comfortable sitting next to a gum chewing peer. So by weighing the pros and the cons and respecting the needs of others, the following are some tools, tips and tactics you can use to inhibit nail biting:
* Redirect biting to a chewy, KidCompanions Chewelry, chewing gum…
*Have crunchy, healthy snacks always close at hand and ready to eat.
*Use of a bitter tasting product applied on the nails: nail polish, lotions, perfumes or homemade potions made of pepper or soap.
*Apply a bitter substance such as ginger oil, easily obtained by soaking some ginger for two weeks in oil olive.
*Buy a commercial product available at most pharmacies.
*Put band aids on your nails.
*Keep your child busy and focused on fun activities.
*Reinforce positive behavior by praising him.
*Can establish a reward system to motivate the child for each small step made.
* Keep the hands busy with a fidget, silly putty, worry stone, stress ball, Velcro spot underneath desk table
* Plan to polish and decorate your girl’s nails as soon as they grow back.
Nail biting seems to be such an insignificant matter when the lives of families are disrupted by more serious issues. However, by being proactive and getting nail biting under control before the teasing, the bullying and the bloody fingers repulse friends and classmates, you’re doing this child a great favor.
Do you know of other techniques or products to stop nail biting?
1. Try to tackle the habit early
Try to identify if your child is developing a nail biting habit at an early stage. Just like any other habit once it becomes established it will be a lot harder to break.
2. Identify triggers
It could be boredom, or stress or a particular time of day. Ask your child to write down in a diary when they notice they are nail biting. Ask them to note down what they were doing at the time and if anything springs to mind as to what triggered the biting.
3. Increase awareness
One of the biggest problems is that it is a subconscious habit. A lot of the time a child will not even notice when they start to bite. Raise the consciousness of their nails. To do this you could try taking photos of their nails every day for a week or two. You can compare the photos and look for any progress or otherwise. Anything that helps someone to think about their nails on a more regular basis can help.
4. Start a protect a nail campaign
Select a nail and make it the one nail that cannot be bitten. I would suggest you take a nail that is already badly damaged. Watch it grow! This should help your child to feel they are making progress. Once the nail becomes reestablished select another nail to become its protected partner.
5. Love your nails
Keep the fingernails as tidy and as pleasantly shaped as you can. Give them a mini manicure and paint the nails to make them look at their best. If a school has a rule that bans coloured nail varnish then try using a clear varnish. Developing pride in the nails can help raise awareness and make them too good to bite.
If your child's school does not allow nail varnish of any description then try using coloured stickers. These help to raise awareness of the nails. A glimpse of the stickers as a child goes to bite their nails may be all it takes to draw the action into their consciousness and stop them.
6. Artificial nails
If you can find the right sized artificial nails then this can help too. Not only do they replace the bitten nails with a stylish look they offer great protection.
7. Make them taste foul!
There are many liquids you can buy that cover the nail with a foul tasting coating. You do need to ensure that this is reapplied on a regular basis. This is one of the most popular methods used to try to break the habit.
8. Substitute another activity
In case the problem is stress or boredom related try another activity that uses the hands. The first one that springs to mind is squeezing a rubber stress ball. You need to be careful if you select substitute activities as many of these have the potential to develop into irritating habits themselves.
9. Increase calcium intake
In case calcium deficiency does play a role in your child's nail biting problem then increase the amount of calcium in their diet. High levels of calcium can be found in leafy green vegetables, nuts and seeds, dairy products and dried fruit.
10. Hypnotherapy
In older children you can also try hypnotherapy, but I would be very wary when searching for a suitably qualified hypnotist, especially as children are involved. I would try all other tips before embarking on this one.
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