About a year and half ago I wrote a post on how I was worried about
Smera’s thumb-sucking habit. Well, now I am not! It’s been over 6 months that
she kicked this habit, even more appreciative is the fact that she did it
herself. It’s true no medicine, no
threatening, no time-outs, all it needed was some pep talk. Now one may wonder
does pep talk with 3 something year old work? Without blinking an eyelid I
would say yes and Smera is my proof! We all know, that kids these days are very
intelligent and as parents it is upto us to use this intelligence wisely.
Ever since my last post on her thumb-sucking habit, I decided that I
would not try anything drastic to get rid of the habit. I didn’t want to leave
the little child with a scar for the rest of her life. Instead what I did was, I kept telling her
that sucking thumb is not nice thing to do. I kept on feeding this information
whenever she would be at it or was thinking of doing it. Slowly I would start
asking her to take it out. And each time she did, she was rewarded with words
like “Good Girl!” or “Bravo”! She would smile and get back to playing.
She gradually reduced her habit during the day thanks to my constant
pep-talk. But she still needed her comforting thumb to sleep at night. So one
night I asked her if she was ready to sleep without her thumb. She agreed but
it was not quite easy for her, the poor child tossed and turned the whole
night, however with great effort managed to sleep at night.
The next morning as she got up we celebrated her big victory, got her
a little cake, called up her grandparents back to make her feel great about her
achievement. From that day on Smera has not gone to back sucking thumb at all.
All said and done, thumb sucking is muscle memory for little Smera and at times
at night she unknowingly puts it her mouth but once asked to remove even in
deep sleep, she would pull it off.
In all of this I was reminded, what might seem like a small issues for
us might be real big deal for a toddler and if we just try to put ourselves in
their shoes, we might be able to understand them a bit. What’s more important is the fact, if an
approach has worked like miracles for most people, it would do the same for you
too!
In my journey of motherhood I learnt that, a lot of our parenting
challenges can be solved with just a smile and it works even better with a hug.
My 20 Months old just sucks his thumb when he is about to sleep , we are not sure what to do.
ReplyDeleteJust let him be .. by sucking thumb he is taking care of himself .. but keep telling him it's not nice to do .. alternatively you make him play so much before he sleeps that he is so tired to sleep that he wouldn't need his thumb :D
Deletehe will eventually leave it .. have you ever seen a 16 year old boy suck his thumb ?? Even I have not .. take it easy :D
I don't know how or why all kids love to suck their thumb even when they are so tiny to differentiate between one finger or the other. Its a habit that most kids leave when they start crawling or walking as there are many more interesting things to do. My daughter bartered her thumb for a huge doll that she could only hug and that was the end of thumb sucking.
ReplyDeleteAwwie that's so cute .. :D
Deleteoh yes what seems small to us is indeed a big mountain to climb for the little one's for sure and you did very good ..
ReplyDeletegod bless the litte one
Bikram's
Thanks Bikram .... little by little we are achieving big things .... :D
DeleteB F Skinner would be mighty proud of you, Sangeeta. What you did with Smera was what Skinner suggested: behavioural therapy based on stimulus- response theory.
ReplyDeleteWoah ... I didn't know of this and you have made an extremely happy person! I'll read about it a bit more ... sounds interesting and helpful !!
DeleteThis is a problem most parents face.
ReplyDeleteMy kid did too some years ago. Now she's a responsible girl!
Glad they outgrow :)
So true Anita .... even though we know that they will outgrow but we get all nervous about it :D
DeleteWhat you did was great Sangeeta.. and though I was saved from thumb-sucking, there are other things which asks for the same treatment... pep talks and motivation :)
ReplyDeleteSo true Kokila .. not just for Kids even for us adults pep talk is an absolute essential for us too :D
DeleteThanx for enlightening me. I am a father of a 4 month old. My son too has a habit of sucking- not thumb but his middle and ring finger together. I tried sleep talking with him. Then I also try to keep a soft and tiny pillow on his arm to avoid his fingers getting close to his mouth. But he is too smart!! Now I realise it's ok to let him be as of now. And for the future I have the 'pep talk' idea of yours.
ReplyDelete