I Declare a Thumb War!

So just how far do you go to help your daughter break a bad habit? Here’s one tale from the trenches, courtesy of Diane Rene. Good to know that even a veteran of four children will reach for the white flag. Diane blogs at  My Mind’s Ramblings. 


My 7-year-old sucks her thumb.

The dentist says it is ruining her mouth, and I am starting to see signs of it. You know, the front teeth rounding out where her thumb fits? And I think I am seeing that telltale thumb sucker’s jaw too. Where her teeth aren’t really ‘bucked’ but more tilted outward??

But honestly? I don’t care.

I was a thumb sucker. Yup. ‘Til I was 14! The only reason I stopped was because I was in rehab, where I wasn’t allowed to have my blanket and I was forced to sleep head to toe with other girls. Broke that habit right off.

I don’t care that my child uses her thumb to comfort herself.

BUT!

And this is a big’un.

She knots her hair while she sucks her thumb.

BIG. FAT. NASTY knots on the side of her head. Like a big, dread-locked corkscrew! This rat’s nest causes one side of her hair to be shorter than the other side, and it looks abused.

This is not new, she’s been doing this since she was 4 days old.

And this I don’t like. VAIN? Maybe.

The two habits always go hand in hand. So, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. The child and I have talked extensively about this. She wants to stop knotting her hair because she wants to wear it long like her sisters and she does NOT want a dental implant. We both think stopping the thumb sucking will stop the hair knotting, so we agree to work on it.

First we will start by knocking out the daytime knotting. No thumb sucking ’til bedtime. That’s the rule.

This proves to be a challenge. . . in the car, in the living room, any time there is downtime I am telling her to pull her thumb out of her mouth. Ugh! I’m tired of hearing myself speak!!

So we go to buy this nasty fingernail polish that is supposed to taste nasty. I didn’t taste it, but the child HATED it. It worked!

For 30 minutes.

‘Til I found her sucking her pinky. Really?? AND knotting her hair.

So, we paint ALL the nails. On both hands. And I considered painting her toes, but I didn’t want to put THAT idea into her head.

The polish dries and we sit down to watch TV. I watch the child as I pretend to read. . .

She sticks her thumb in her mouth, then gags. Then she punches her sister in the arm.

That starts an argument, which I quickly stop.

A few minutes pass where she is bouncing around on the couch.

This requires redirection from me.

Child sticks her thumb back in her mouth, again, strongly and now vocally, disliking the taste.

She lays down on sister’s lap, which is not welcomed by sister.

I move child to the floor where she draws pictures with her fingers in the thick carpet.

I try hard to calm the OCD voice in my head that wants to scream, “I JUST VACUUMED THAT FLOOR!”

The drawing turns into spinning on one knee.

The spinning leads to some sort of an attempt at break dancing.

That leads to bumping her head on the table and crying, overly loud, which leads to her sister telling her to be quiet.

Can you see where I am going with this? From 3 – 9 p.m., for 3 days straight! The child is picking one fight after another with her sisters, and I am beside myself in redirecting her and telling her to knock it off! I can’t handle the fighting, the crying, the yelling. . . oh yeah, and the next morning? The knots are worse than they have EVER been.

So yesterday, when the child comes to have her nails painted?? I tell her not to worry about it. I’m not taking her thumb away from her.

Screw the dentist, and screw the hair! I’ll find a job to pay for the orthodontics and she looks cute with short hair anyway. Let the child have her damn thumb and SUCK IT!