Hands as toys.

I know that you are not supposed to play with a kitten with your hands, but I'm wondering if I have a special case. My husband loves to play with Simon using his hands. Last night I told him that was giving Simon bad habits(for the 1,000th time) and he said that he didn't think so. Simon doesn't bite when he "catches" my husbands hand. He licks it. He also doesn't use his claws, he keeps them carefully sheathed while playing.

He has never scratched any of the kids(we told them if they're playing with Simon and he scratches that they hurt or scared him...IE they deserve it!) or my husband. He has scratched me, if I don't pick him up when he tells me to(yes, we're well trained LOL) he does that stretched out knead on my legs and I've ended up with a nick or two(in the process of trying to teach him not to do that, but I get that "well if you'd do what I tell you to..." look. He hasn't bitten anyone other than me either. The biting was on my toes when I didn't pick him up, but that habit has been broken.

For background Simon is a little over 4 months and has been with us over a month.

Sounds pretty well behaved. I've never heard of the "don't play with your hands" bit. Every cat/kitten I've ever had has been "rough'd up". I think most cats, including my current tabby, love to play that way as it's more interactive and engaging. It also closely mimicks the play between kittens. No stuffed toy or ball can replace that.

I think it depends on the cat.
Some get over stimulated and will bite or scratch, and some play gently.

I would try to break the habit if you can. I know, some men are hard to train

Zoey is a biter. Since day one when I got her (11months old) I could not pet her without her trying to bite my hands. I believe since she was young, someone played with her with their hands too much and now it is very difficult to break her habit. I have succeeded at least 80% which I'm very proud of, but when kittens get older their bites are harder and hurt more

You are lucky that your kitty doesnt bite your hands, but that could change if she is constantly being played with with hands. Try to get a toy to substitute.. stick it in your hubbys hand and say use this instead!!

At four months they lick, much later in life they lick and they bite. I would try to discourage this type of play. We do not play with any of our kittens or cats with our fingers, hands or feet. It took a couple of hard bites for us to understand that this type of play should be redirected to a toy. Our best toy for our cats is an old fishing pole with a piece of faux fur tied to the end of the line. They love this toy and will play for a long time with it. Keeps our hands and fingers out of the danger zone.