She is 12 years old and very pretty but her hands let her down. She has long elegant fingers and badly bitten nails, she just can’t stop biting them, she does it when she is watching TV and when she is concentrating at school. I have tried applying the nasty tasting nail stuff but it didn’t stop her. . .
added after answers lol, she has very very short nails, and i don’t nag her about it, she is a nervous type of girl and i know she worries about things at times. It is her who has asked me for help in stopping biting so I am trying to help her. I tried giving her a manicure but the nails are just too short. I certainly don’t want to force her to stop (that wouldn’t be possible) but i would like her to be proud of her hands.
and thanks for all your advice 
oh wow! what a wonderful response, I want to choose lots of best answers lol. I now have so many good ideas I’m sure she will succeed. Thank you all so much
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She wont stop until she is ready to. (Like any other habit)
take control put scotch tape over her nails and if she takes it off punish her or clip her fingernails all the way down so it hurts her when she bites them
tell her that if she keeps bittin em she could acdentally swallow em & she might have 2 get surgery cuz they keep growin in ya. or try lemon juice & tape
My mother told me that if i not stopped, my nails will make a hole in my stomach, and i will gonna die. And i stopped in the same time dude!
(Based on true facts), BUT DO NOT DO IT, IT IS HORRORIBLE!
get her 2 cut her nails reli short not uncomfortabley short but short enuf so ther is no point in her biting thm – give her somthing else 2 occupie herself with – like give her a blob of blue tack wen watching tv – alot of people bite ther nails so dnt worry 2 much but ther r lots of things u cn give her so she doesnt hav 2 bite them – i bite the skin around my nails – i no its horrible but i cnt stop either
sometimes i heard that biting nails reflect a person’s inner mindset. She might fear something, im not sure bout fear but it definately reflect a person’s inner mindset. Well, to help her stop biting it, give her like ‘rewards’ if she doesn’t bite her finger for like ex. 5 days. If using a harder way, its to put her into a situation that she fears the most, hoping that she will stop biting her fingernails.
have her wear mittens, either she will stop from embarresment or because the mittens make her stop. it worked for me
bitter alloes, available from the chemists.
if the nasty tasting nail stuff didn’t work, who knows what will, but i have seen something like this on tv and it worked, so go to your local grocery store and buy a very hot pepper. when you get home cut a piece of the pepper and put the juice on her nails (not a whole lot though!) hopefully she will get the idea that if she puts her fingers in her mouth that her tongue will be on fire. it worked on tv, so good luck with your daughter.
keep her nails trimmed very short, then she cant bite them.
cut them short
Maybe she needs an incentive so she can stop biting her nails. For example, if she doesn’t bite her nails for two weeks, she can get a small gift, like a bottle of pretty nail polish or a gift card to her favorite store. When she is able to totally kick the habit, reward her with something bigger. Good luck and I hope this helps:)
Acrylic nails,,,treat her they stay on for about six months,,and her nails will grown under,,then take her to have a manicure done they will look great
do a search in yahoo answers- there have been quite a few suggestions on this topic in the past that may help your daughter.
you could try putting hot sauce on her fingers .
How about offering her a reward if she lets them grow?
A teacher once told me that biting your nails is the equivalent to licking a toilet seat. Apparently it has the same amount of germs. I don’t know whos dirty nails they tested but that’s horrible. I’ve never done it since. I suppose you basically touch alot of things during the day so you could pick up anything. Perhaps she’s doing it so much because you are, I don’t want to say nagging because it’s not nice to call someone a nag, but she does even more because she knows she’s not supposed to. Why don’t you give her a proper manicure then she will think- ‘I don’t want to ruin my nice nails’.
Tell her this story, I used to bite my nails down to the nubs, but then my thumb got infected under the nail, it swelled up to twice the size and hurt incredibly, I had to go to the doctor and he burned a hole in the nail to drain it, I never bit my nails again, it was traumatic
cut her fingers off
chop her fingers off
umm. . . . . put special nail polish that is 4 nail biting. . . it tastes really bad (but it wont harm her) but that will show her not to bite them and she will stop
CHOP HER FINGERS OFF LOL JOKE
Chop of her fingers!!
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I’m her age, well. . . . 13 actually but anyway. . .
I bit my nails for years and years! but only very recently have given up. I find that for starters chewing gum helped ( if I was chewing something already then I didn’t feel like I had to bite them )
When I was stressed I but them more, so if she’s happy and care free she shouldn’t bite them as much.
You could try on plus buying her lots of pretty nail care products etc. then she’ll feel like. . . . well if it was me it wud defo help.
Hope I helped! and I wish her luck!!
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Until recently (mid-thirties), I kept my nails really short, cut and filed, otherwise I would bite them or the skin around them.
I find that taking good care of them, no matter how short they are, saves them getting chewed: what’s the point in ruining all the effort I put into applying and drying (!) three layers of polish! Deeper colours are even better because every chip really stands out.
I have very long fingers too and I find that very short nails are actually quite nice, so long as they are neatly filed, not all chewed up. . .
It also helps to have a distraction from nail-biting, e. g. chewing gum while watching TV, a small squeegee ball at school. . .
gosh! Iv’e got that problem with my 5 year old daughter. I think the only way is to put tape/plasters on each finger (I havent tried yet). but whatever you do, dont do the “chilli pepper” thing she might burn her fingers or get it in her eyes!!! good luck mate!
get her some cuticle cream and apply it every evening it will taste nasty and will help keep her cuticles soft and that will aid growth maybe you both could go and have a manicure together and they can show her things she can do to promote growth and it would be something nice for you both to do together
dip them in rubbing alcohol while she is sleeping. or find out why she is biting her nails. it may just be a bad habit she keeps until she is an adult.
my mom put this nail polish stuff on mine it tastes disgusting but helps
Try an very old fasioned methord paint them with bitter alum than over with nail colour
Does she like horses?? get her to muck out a shavings bed (usually done by hand) she’ll never bite em again.
i bit my nails for about 20 years and i finally stopped last year, first i stopped bitting the little finger on my left hand, that grew very quickly and gave me the insentive to carry on by adding another finger nail every couple few days. good luck
Handcuff her hands behind her back
Try to explain to her that biting her nails is not a bad habit only because her fingers wont look good, but moreover because her nails and fingers contain a great amount of germs that are not good for her health.
I used to bite my nails when I was a child and stopped eventually but have seen a lot of people that still do it in their 30s and is definitely not a nice picture. Since though she is in a very fragile age I think it would be better if you try to make her feel nice about herself and even the parts of her that don’t look so nice.
It will prove later that any “faulty” part can be easily dismissed by a confident personality.
Let her know of all the bugs and germs that are under nails. I used to bite mine and tried all the nasty tasting stuff but it doesnt work! I just “gave up” on new years day (about 6 yr ago) Stopping smoking is my next task! Just encourage your daughter to what her nails will be like when/if she gives up biting them
Buy Nail The Habit from Superdrug. It worked on my daughter.
chop her fingers off. .
well, if the horrible nail stuff didnt work, maybe you could consider letting her paint her nails in a nice shade, then maybe she’ll have preserving the pretty look as motivation not to bite them.
YOU COULD BUY THIS NATURAL ALOE VERA PRODUCT WHICH YOU DIP HER HANDS AND LET IT DRY. WEN SHE GOES TO BITE HER NAILS, IT WOULD BE A BITTER TASTE IN HER MOUTH. THAT WOULD STOP HER!!!!!!
tell her she wont be getting any christmas presents if she doesnt stop
I’m almost 30 and i am still biting my nails, i just cant help it, i am the same as your daughter, when i am nervous or concentrating i do it and not realise, i have tried everything, including the nasty nail stuff which i ended up getting used too the taste of. the only way now that i stop is when i can afford too i go and have false nails put on, that way when i go too bite i stop myself coz of the money it costs too have them done. My mum and dad still moan at me about biting them.
you could buy a microscope and get her to put her fingers underneath it once she see how much grit and dirt are under her nails it may be enough to stop her for life (the microscope will show her what the naked eye cant see) also once she grows her nails take her for a manicure once she sees how nice and pretty they look she will want to keep them like that!
tell her that if she goes a day with out biting them that you will buy her something really nice, a suprise present of some sort. . . and the less she bites them. . . the bigger the present will be. . .
for example. . .
day one:- a chocolate bar
day two:- cook her her favourite meal
day three:- her favourite meal with favourite desert
day four:- buy her a film she likes
day five:- take her and a friend to the cinema
if she bites her nails on day three then she goes all the way back to day one in presents lists. . .
it will be fun if you make a little calendar together and get her to choose the things she likes best, starting with somethig small like i suggested. . . to something big like a puppy or something to that big effect!
to start her off give her a small bottle of niva hand cream all to her self and tell her to put it on before bed, tell her to push her cuticles down. . . also get a bottle of nail hardener that acts as a shine. . . when she sees her nails shine she will be less willing to bite them. . .
i used to bite mine all the time and found that this really worked. i also did the same as your daughter and it made it worse as i got bullied!
hope that helps! and good luck!
x
I saw the message about pepper/chilli oil. Yes it would taste bad, but it is also dangerous if it gets in the eyes and her fingers might wipe her eyes. There is no way to force her to stop, it is a habit that is not restricted to class, sex or age. Have you tried some of that nail gel stuff that can be painted on, it looks ‘real’ so that teachers should not get uppity about it and it probably does not taste too good if your daughter tried to bite it off. If all else fails, it sounds as though you have a lovely daughter anyway, so what if her nails won’t win a beauty contest.
Buy her a pony. Also effective cure 4 ; boredom, bedwetting, monday blues and some minor heart defects!!
Leave her when shes older she will stop.
Ah Grasshopper – me wise old man of 65 – sorry to say I have bitten my nails as long as I’ve had teeth!
When you find the answer to this question please enlighten me.
PS.
Persistence does help – this I know, I have stopped at least 769 times, unfortunately I have started 770 times.
Best of Luck
she´ll stop by herself automatically, when she grows up someday.
I had the same problem when I was 12. my dad & my uncle said the same thing
cut off her fingers
Get her a lovely box of nail varnishes.
My daughter used to bite her nails.
I told her there was more germs under her nails than on a dirty toilet seat, she still chewed them!!
I started to buy myself new nail varnishes and each night i,d sit with me little box of colours. Buffing, painting and playing.
It didnt take long for her to want her nails done like mummys.
Be patient, dont make a fuss and. . . . . . . . .
Good luck xxx
get a microscope and take a tooth pick and scrape under her nails or on the end of it then have her look at it, ther are thing living and moving around under there also tell her that is what she is putting in her mouth and eating.
I am 12 and in seventh grade and I have been chewing my fingernails for as ong as I can remember. I just can’t stop! It’s like impossible or something. My mom doesn’t let me paint my fingernails or toenails (I don’t bite my toenails)(Eeew). She says I can’t until I stop. So on Monday I am going to chew gum and were a rubberband to pop myself everytime I feel the urge to bite my nails. I’ve looked up ways to stop chewing on the internet but I’ve tried everything and everytime I search I find the same things. Just a few minutes ago I cut my nails so short they hurt so bad and are so short I can’t even think about chewing them! If you all have any other suggestions (besides the ussuals) for me I’d really appreciate it.
Dude just supply her with a bunch of chewing gum. I chew my pens all the time unless I have gum. It’s a replacement for her to chew instead.
i agree with sophie_marie2003, because i too bite my nails occasionally because I’m younger, but I do know for a fact when I get acrylic nails that I am never even attempted to bite them, and then if they are long enough for her to get and actual manicure she will see how pretty they are and then maybe change her mind…i don’t know about her but it works for me!
good luck!
Okay so im 14 and i bite my nails,what helps is if she paints a colour onto them (i do pale pink for school) and then she wont bite them. What happens though is she will end up picking them, instead of biting them. I’m forever scratching off my nail polish! Her nails will grow but it will be frustrating for her seeing them grow and break so often. I’ve had acrylic nails on loads and they dont last six months at all, they last about 2 weeks but my nail tech says it depends on how oily your nail beds are, when you are ateenager your nail beds produce more oil (much like how your face does too) if she has oily nail beds like regular teens they will come off sooner, i have adult nail beds and my nails lasted 2weeks.. so yeah definately put a colour on them, and when she sees how long they are getting she will want to keep them out of her mouth!
MY (FRIEND) AT SCHOOL DOES THAT SO FOR MY HABBIT I USED TO SUCK MY THUM BUT I DONT ANY-MORE….. MY MOM OR DAD WOULD PUT HOT SAUSE OR SOMETHING THAT I HATE ON MY FINGERS SO I WOULD NOT DO THAT AND YOU KNOW WHAT IT HELPED SO MUTCH!!! THANKS MOM AND DAD
I’m 14 i do exactly the same thing and u no wot im sooooo gonna stop now!