How do it get my child to stop biting his nails?

Hello, he is 6 years old and has been doing this for a year now. We have tried explaining to him that it is gross, and we have tried taking things away, but he still does it. Any ideas?How do it get my child to stop biting his nails?
From my experience, it is something to do when one is bored. I used to bite mine too, especially when I was reading a book. Most of the time, there will be a feeling that something is under them and needs to be cleaned out, or they are too long, or chipped, etc. I would start by teaching him proper care of his nails. Help him until he can handle the tools, let him learn how to take care of chips, splits, hangnails, etc. without using his teeth.





He may not stop, my mother was after me for 4 or 5 years. I never stopped, and most of the time I didn't even realize I was doing it. It wasn't until I was 18 and my dad sat me down for ';The Talk'; and mentioned that the jagged edges would get stuck in a girl's stockings that I finally realized that I needed to stop. By then I had the self-discipline to stop myself. I still will find myself doing it if they get too long, chipped or if there is a sliver or something under them. The only way I found to stop it was to make sure that at the first thought that they are too long or bothering me I go trim and clean them. Pinky nails are especially bad for me, I have to trim them sometimes twice a week.





Good luck!How do it get my child to stop biting his nails?
gee i wonder why telling him something he does ';without control'; is gross didnt help?? (usually shaming a kid works wonders!) why dont you figure out what happened a year ago that would cause a 6 yr. old to develop a NERVOUS habit. it's a HABIT because he can't stop. get it? try not punishing HIM and take a look at yourselves. a woman once told me she couldnt get her daughter to stop shaking her leg nervously. come to find out the daughter was a nervous wreck because she could hear her parents argueing at night! and her older sister was hitting her alot when the parents would leave her in her older sister's care.
try putting a really hot sauce on his finger nails
I've been through this with my son. Actually, it was at the same age. I tried threatening him with red, purple nail polish - that would work for a while. What worked longer was a nail polish (there's no gloss to it really) you get at the drugstore that tastes really bad, and doesn't wash off easily. Then the most horrible thing that worked the longest was that he got an infection by his cuticle on his thumb. Went to the dr. and it turned out to be strep - the kind that could have turned into that icky flesh-eating disease. SO glad we caught it in time! Check your kids fingers often - bribe him, do whatever. I never realized it could be so dangerous until this situation with my son.
there a nail polish like thing that you an apply to the finger nail that has a bad taste
try putting vieger or somthing thats smells or tastes bad on them
There is a bitter stuff you can apply to his nails. It works better than hot sauce and stuff like that because those come off after a couple of nibbles, but the bitter stuff continues to taste bad. And rather than punish him for chewing on them (because now it's a habit) reward him when he's not chewing on them. I hope you can break this habit now, or it will last his whole life. My husband still chews his nails and just cannot break the habit. It drives me nuts.


P.S.- My science teacher showed us some pictures of an organism that you could get from chewing on your nails, it was nasty. I know it made a couple of my friends stop chewing their nails, and it made me keep my fingers away from my face completely! Maybe an option would be to show him some nasty image of bacteria or worms and tell him that he could catch that from chewing on his nails.
tell him he'll get sick if he doesn't stop. or put something bitter on his fingers.
A little red pepper should do the trick.
soak their fingers in yucky crap!
its not gross