Cracking down on one very bad habit

I'm in the doghouse.

Last Thursday Jo had a dental appointment. Not only was the dentist baffled when she read Jo's chart and saw it had been 19 months since her last visit (oops), she was appalled AND outraged that Jo is still sucking her thumb. The dentist harshly reminded me that sucking thumbs/fingers/pacifers should cease at age two. (YIKES!)

Jo is four-and-a-half.

The dentist went on to show me how Jo's teeth don't meet when she bites down. Her upper teeth are pushed out so there is a plainly visible gap. In addition to corrective orthodontics, Jo could also face speech problems from "tongue thrusting."

I left the dentist office feeling like a negligent mother. I resolved to crack down on breaking the thumb sucking habit in our house.

I'm not sure why this came as such a surprise and shock. If I saw a 4 yr old sucking on a pacifier I would pass judgement on the parents. Pacifiers are for infants! Stop babying your kid!

And now, I wish my girls had used pacifiers. Because, then I could simply take it away and be done. That's right, I've got avid thumb sucker, times TWO.

Unlike pacifiers, thumb-sucking presents a different challenge, as they are always readily available and are an essential appendage to the human body.

Both girls suck their thumbs to fall asleep, which was already common knowlege. But now that we are enforcing the Thumbs Out Policy, I've realized that they pop their thumb in when they are bored/pouty/thirsty/sad/angry/riding in the car/trying to stay quiet + still at church.

This means I'm barking, "Thumb Out!" every 5 seconds.
Not really, but it feels like it.

During the day its not so bad. I've become the master of distraction, offering some kind of activity that keeps their hands busy. Hold the book and help me turn the page! Let's cut paper! Let's bake! Let's dance! Let's color! Let's fold and put away the laundry!

But sometimes we are all worn out.
And Jo whines, "I can't do it, Mom! My mouth is BEGGING for my thumb!!!"