How To Stop Nail Biting In Kids

If you have a small kid, you will notice that they tend to pick up one bad habit or the other. One of the most common bad habits of children is biting the nails. According to experts, it is believed that children who bite their nails have some sort of fear in them and biting their nails provides them a sort of feeling of security. Biting your nails is indeed a bad habit as it can lead to severe stomach infections especially in children. Your children are more prone to getting an infection via this bad habit as they play with all kind of toys and indulge in other activities which gets their hands dirty.

When kids bite their nails parents get worked up over the issue since it leads to stomach infection and an upset tummy. There are so many ways in which parents can stop this bad habit in their little ones. Boldsky, gives you some of the simple ways to stop your kids from biting their nails.

Take a look at how you can stop this bad habit in kids:

Trim Their Nails

To stop this bad habit, parents need to make sure that they trim their child's fingernails from time to time. Do not let it grow too long as it could inculcate the habit to exceed.

Apply Nail Polish

Applying nail polish on the fingernails will help to stop this bad habit. Apply eco friendly nail polish on your child's nails once in a while when they are on vacation.

Put Gloves

Put gloves on your child's hands. This is one of the ways you can stop the bad habit of biting fingernails.

Apply Salt

Something salty on your child's finger tips will help them stop this bad habit of biting fingernails. All you need to do is apply some salt solution on their fingers.

Keep Your Child Busy

Keeping your child busy will help to divert their mind and attention. Getting them involved with activities will help them stop this bad habit.

Apply Chilli powder

Chilli powder too will work on your getting rid of this bad habit of biting nails. However, you need to be careful to not allow the powder from reaching your child's eyes.

The use of oil

Oil is one of the main tricks you can use to stop nail biting. Applying castor oil which is bitter on the fingernails will stop the habit.

Bitter juice

Bitter juice like bittergourd is a perfect example of what you can use to get rid of this bad habit of nail biting in kids. Simple grate a gourd and apply the juice on the fingernails. When your child put her hand in the mouth, she will immediately take it out.

Increase awareness

As a parent you need to create awareness about nail biting. Teach your child that it is a bad habit to follow and nobody likes to be around people who bite their fingernails.

Tackle the habit

You need to tackle this bad habit in a gradual process. Talk to your child first and explain the disadvantages of nail biting. If it doesn't work, take the next step of doing something about it.

Identify the reason

Know the reason why your child is biting his/her nails. There must be a reason why this bad habit has been cultivated. It could be due to fear or insecurity.

Learn to love nails

If your daughter has cultivated this bad habit of biting nails, make sure you teach her the importance of keeping her nails. Show her how you can learn to love them.

Substitute with snacks

You can always substitute this bad habit of biting nails with a bowl of healthy snacks. Crunchy snacks is ideally the best substitute.

Do Not Punish

When your child has this bad habit, makes sure to not go to an extreme of punishing your child. Simply make your child understand by talking to them gently.

Rewards

This is one of the best techniques parents can try out at the end of the day. If your child makes an improvement in getting rid of this bad habit of biting nails, make sure you reward him/her.