The Dreaded THUMB!!

It’s been awhile. I have no excuses other than the normal “been busy” excuse. The oldest in the book. In the meantime, I recently read an article written by a mom about her thumb-sucking daughter. That almost sounded like a bad word! Ironic. I agreed with her article, so I thought I’d write about it. We had lots of parallels. She was a thumb-sucker – I was a thumb-sucker. Now her daughter is a thumb-sucker and my daughter is a thumb-sucker. I knew it would be this way. Addison was sucking her thumb in-utero, so no surprise here. Basically, what is most bothersome about the whole ordeal is how much it bugs OTHER people. As a former thumb-sucker, I don’t think the teasing, humiliation, and overall disappointment from other people was helpful. I’m not sure that’s what really made me quit either. I became a sneak-thumb-sucker. Like an addict. Not the message you want to send to a kid. Addison sucks her thumb as her Zen. Couple that with certain corners of her “blankie” and she’s in such a relaxed state that any Buddhist would drool over. It’s her lullaby. I commend her for finding her peace. Unfortunately, societal pressures will shame her from achieving that peace soon. I wish people would lay off her for now. It doesn’t bother me. Should it? Why? Because you say so? Meh. Whatever. She’s only 4…almost 5. Why does she need to go through that pressure now? It helps her cope with whatever is stressing her. I think she’ll find other, more “appropriate” ways in due time, but how do you expect a 5 year-old to know how to deal with her emotions and stressors. A 5 year-old shouldn’t have stressors, you say? To her, having a doll taken away from her for 10 minutes is the end of the world. Trust me, she has stress. Having to wear pants instead of a dress is sheer torture. Not being allowed to watch a movie at 8:30pm because it’s bed-time is cruel. She has stress. Let her have her thumb, for now…ok? Don’t let it bother you and she’ll quit when she’s ready and found another way to cope. In due time.