What to do about nail biting?
Nail biting is a nuisance - and around 10 to 15 per cent of children have this bad habit. It often causes parents stress, irritation or even concern because they ask themselves: "What's wrong with my child?" However, nail biting is not a disease in itself.
But why does a child bite its nails? Because there is inner tension and something is not flowing. As is so often the case, it doesn't help if parents dramatise the situation or believe they have to emotionally penetrate the child with questions such as: "What's wrong with you?", "What's bothering you?", "Are you worried?" etc. The child rarely opens up in response to such questions - partly because they are usually unable to clearly articulate what is going on.
For us parents, this means observing the child from the corner of our eyes and looking at the situations in which the chewing mainly occurs. And, of course, try to find out whether there are any stress factors or irritations where we can do something to help the child stop biting their nails because they simply feel more balanced again.
What definitely doesn't help: punishing the child, constantly correcting them, nagging them - especially not in front of other people. This simply increases the child's stress and leads to increased nail biting. And this also leads to increased frustration for the parents. And you end up with a vicious circle that can poison the family climate.
If you want to help children, it's always a good idea to give them positive reinforcement. This means rewarding correct behaviour. For example, with plus points that the child can collect (for cutting their fingernails, for example). And for a certain number of plus points, there is a reward that the children and parents agree on.
It is also often the case that the problem disappears as the child gets older. Because the children then realise that it can be nice to have beautiful hands and fingers.
Conclusion: Nail biting is a nuisance - but in very few cases does it require medical intervention. For example, if the gnawing is so intense that it leads to injuries. So please take a relaxed approach to this issue and allow your child to have such episodes.
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