Thumb Sucking

When Alden was 2 1/2, we took away his binky (pacifier, soother, whatever you call it) and within a couple of days, Alden started sucking his thumb.  I was very surprised that a kid would start sucking their thumb at such an "old" age but, knowing that Jaron sucked his thumb until he was 9, I was determined to nip the habit in the bud. (Is that the expression?)

 

We tried pickle juice.  We tried over-the-counter thumb yuck stuff.  We tried taping his thumbs up.  Nothing worked.  After about a week of mine and Alden's fighting almost constantly over the issue, Jaron wisely advised me to just let it go (What would I do without that man?!).  Unsure of what else I could do, I gave in.

 

Over the next four years, people lent me endless advice.  "You shouldn't let him suck his thumb." "You should make him stop." "You know, thumb sucking will wreck his teeth." "Does he suck his thumb all  the time?" "Think of all the germs on his thumb!"

Haha, people can be sooo helpful sometimes.  I'll admit I would lose my temper with it sometimes and gruffly pull the thumb from his mouth or demand that he take it out.  I'm still not sure why it bothered me so much.

 

About a month ago, Alden came home from school with a picture he'd drawn of himself sucking his thumb.  I asked him about it and he said that while at workshop ("What on earth is workshop?!") the teacher told him he couldn't play the game because he was sucking his thumb and made him sit at another table to draw a picture of himself sucking his thumb instead.

 

"What?!"

 

OK, I realize it's totally hypocritical.  How many times have I lost my temper with the thumb sucking?!  Still, should a teacher at school be losing her temper?  I thought about the picture from time to time over the weekend and by Monday I had decided to email his teacher about it.  She forwarded it to the "workshop" teacher who called me the next day.

 

She sounded like a sweet elderly lady who began by apologizing, acknowledging that she shouldn't have handled the situation the way she had.  She explained that workshop is a special group that Alden goes to each week for a little advanced work ("Why didn't I know about this?!") and she expressed frustration at all the germs Alden was spreading through his thumb sucking.  She described what had happened on Friday and then apologized again but also advised that Alden needed to stop the thumb sucking.

 

I told her that I wasn't happy either that Alden sucked his thumb and told her of my efforts to try to break the habit.  She helpfully warned me that Alden would be teased if he didn't stop soon.  I suggested that she could discourage the habit by having Alden wash his hands each time she caught him sucking his thumb but I also advised her that it was inappropriate and definitely unhelpful to punish him for sucking his thumb.

 

Apparently the incident created enough thumb sucking conversation in our house that Alden decided he was ready to quit.  Jaron got a BB gun as a quitting bribe when he was nine.  Alden has wanted an Air Hog remote-controlled airplane for a long time so we decided that would be the reward. 

 

Alden tried to quit but kept forgetting and after a few days, decided he wasn't ready.  About a week later, though, he decided he was ready to try again.  We tried putting band-aids on his thumbs to help him remember but those never lasted long.  I looked on the internet at a few $20+ "thumb guards" and decided they looked like glorified stretchy gloves with the fingers cut off.  So I cut the fingers (and left the thumbs) off a few winter gloves and they were really effective at helping him to remember.  We set up a reward schedule of going out for ice cream after three days, going out for dinner after a week, and getting the Air Hog after a month of no thumb sucking.

 

And guess what?!  He did it!!  I couldn't believe that it was just as easy as him deciding he wanted to do it and then doing it.  Alden now hasn't sucked his thumb in over two months.

 

Chick-fil-A for dinner.

 We were blessed to score this Air Hog set for only $25 at the after Christmas clearance! 

Alden and Eli LOVE it.

 

We're so proud of you, Alden!  Way to go!!