My 6 and 5 year olds are (still) avid thumb-suckers. And bedtime isn’t complete without a thorough search for a lost blankie.
Yes, pacifiers are annoying. But you can take a pacifier away at some point. Unfortunately, you can’t take away a thumb!
I have found that the thumb-sucking greatly diminishes if the blanket (lovey) isn’t handy. So our latest rule is that the blanket stays ON the bed.
I know at some point these childhood habits will cease and my sons won’t be walking down the aisle at their weddings–sucking their thumbs with a blanket trailing behind…
Right???
my youngest sucks her thumb and has a bunny in the other hand. i figure if it keeps her out of the dating pool for awhile, i’m all for it.
Both my kids were extremely attached to their pacifiers. My husband and I dreaded taking them away. It ended up being a lot simpler than we expected. We negotiated with them and came up with a simple exchange of barbie house for pacifier. We had one night of tears and request to bring the doll house back to the store. But quickly they forgot all about their pacifiers. They still love their blankets. I see no harm in this attachment. Then even took them away to sleepover camp. Many other kids had their brought their blankets too.
We, yes including myself have a cacow….or as normal people call it a blankie! We never travel without them. They 3 monkey’s have each had their cacow, since birth and mine came when I left for University.
all three of my kids have blankets and we are CONSTANTLY searching for my youngest’s. The other two would be embarrassed to even take their blankets out of their rooms. heh.
My almost 11-year-old still has his “Ba” (blanket). Although he doesn’t need it, he still loves it! And I love it to. When he was away at camp he didn’t take it for many reasons (didn’t want it to get lost, didn’t want to be teased) so I would go in and smell it when I missed him! Strange but true.
As for thumb sucking, I have a number of friends whose kids did it and one day just stopped. One of them had the dentist talk to her 6-year-old and say, “You are a big boy now and it is time to stop sucking your thumb. Your grown-up teeth are going to be coming in and it is your job to take care of them. Next time you are here I want you to tell me all about how you stopped.” A few nighttime reminders from his parents and he never sucked his thumb again. Might not work but worth a try!
Another friend put on the nail biting, gross tasting stuff so they wouldn’t suck their thumbs. It worked but it took a few tries.
You are right, though. Eventually they will stop.