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| Does your child bite their nails? |
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There are several nervous habits that young children can acquire throughout their childhood – nail biting, thumb sucking, teeth grinding or hair twisting. Nail biting is the most common, with up to 50 per cent of children biting their nails at some point in their childhood.
Nail biting can start for a number of reasons: a child may be bored, curious, or it could be because of stress or anxiety. A child may also copy an older sibling, which in turn eventually becomes a nervous habit of their own.
Most bad habits are a passing phase that a child will stop on their own. However, sometimes early intervention can be best, because habits are harder to break the longer they go on for. If you notice your child begin to bite their nails there are a few things you can do to try and break the habit.
Look at their day-to-day
Often, bad habits begin as a response to an event or a stress in a child's life. Have you moved house recently? Started a new child care service? Or is there an upcoming sports competition that could be worrying them? Talk with your child about any stresses that might be happening and see if there are any underlying concerns that could be triggering the nail-biting.
If your child is anxious about something, try and work through that stress or talk to your child care provider or teacher to alleviate any worries from the classroom. If there isn't anything specific they can identify, try to give your child some extra time to run off any nervous stress and energy.
Keep idle hands busy
Nail biting can also be the result of boredom, so look at when the nail biting occurs – is it when they are watching TV, or on a long car journey? If so, offer an alternative to play with at a time where they might be inclined to bite their nails. For older children, a toy with moving parts, stress toys, or even old-fashioned fidget-friendly games such as cat's cradle can help. For younger children, try giving them a smooth stone, a piece of string, or a rubber band to hold.
Help them become aware
Like most habits, nail biting is an unconscious response, and many children don't realise when they are doing it. So, a big part of breaking a habit is helping your child to become aware the habit exists so they can start to control it themselves. Drawing attention to it in public can make a child feel awkward or embarrassed so once they know it is a problem, a gentle reminder each time it happens is often enough.
Education, not punishment
As an unconscious habit, nagging or punishments for nail-biting simply won't work and could intensify the stress. Instead, try to set some positive steps in place, guiding them on the best way to look after their fingernails such as washing their hands and keeping fingernails trimmed. Success is most likely to happen when the biter is motivated to stop and understands why they should stop biting their nails, as they will then feel in control of the process. With this in mind aim to get your child on board to avoid forcing the issue. Then set some achievable goals, such as 24 hours without nail biting then 48 hours, and celebrate the small milestones.
As a last resort, there are bitter tasting nail varnishes that can help, but this could feel like a punishment and aren't recommended for younger children. For girls, a nice manicure might be a positive deterrent to nail biting instead. Make her nails pretty and she'll be less inclined to bite them. For boys, you can use cool camouflage tape if it is becoming severe, to make it harder to get to the nails.
When to worry
If the nail biting is becoming severe, or it suddenly resurfaces, visit your healthcare provider, particularly if fingers are starting to become sore and bleeding. This could be a sign of excessive anxiety.
Accept it will take time
One approach might not be enough and you might need to try several different techniques to find one that works for your child. But in time and with gentle support from you, the habit should pass.
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