snell@utzoo.UUCP (Richard Snell) (01/14/86)
When the child begins to go to school, and has been in the habit
of sucking on some object as a comfort/distraction activity
(i.e., either a thumb or a pacifier)
1. you can keep the pacifier at home.
2. you can not keep the thumb at home.
Seems to be little evidence that children hooked on one become hooked
on the other... so... it is not too hard to choose which to give them:-)
I will certainly admit that a toddler wandering around with a souse
stuck in his/her mouth is not a very heart-warming sight... but a
6 year old chewing on a thumb is even less delightful:-)
--
Name: Richard Snell
Mail: Dept. Zoology, Univ. Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 1A1
UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!snellmark@umcp-cs.UUCP (Mark Weiser) (01/16/86)
In article <6286@utzoo.UUCP> snell@utzoo.UUCP (Richard Snell) writes: >...I will certainly admit that a toddler wandering around with a souse >stuck in his/her mouth is not a very heart-warming sight... but a >6 year old chewing on a thumb is even less delightful:-) These are not the only alternatives. We did not use pacifers for our children, but encouraged them to express their feelings. It never made sense to me to encourage useless habits--my eight year old has developed enough of them on her own without me. If a child is hungry, let them eat, if not but fussy, try to correct what is upsetting, if nothing is upsetting then they are just in a bad mood and deserve to be treated as you would your most beloved friend when he/she is in a bad mood: give them a listen but don't take it too seriously. If its a real bad mood it might take a long listen--but I've done this for my adult friends in a bad way and I try to do no less for my children. -mark -- Spoken: Mark Weiser ARPA: mark@maryland Phone: +1-301-454-7817 CSNet: mark@umcp-cs UUCP: {seismo,allegra}!umcp-cs!mark USPS: Computer Science Dept., University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742
barb@oliven.UUCP (Barbara Jernigan) (01/25/86)
> > I will certainly admit that a toddler wandering around with a souse > stuck in his/her mouth is not a very heart-warming sight... but a > 6 year old chewing on a thumb is even less delightful:-) > Personally, my mother thought pacifiers were an abomination. When we were very small, we chewed on wet wash cloths (*at* *home*). I never felt deprived (that I can remember ;-), and I certainly don't suck my thumb (swizzle sticks -- the little plastic ones for coffee -- are fair game! :-). Without one *does* *not* default to using the other. I guess you never miss what you've never had. Barb