How to Stop Your Child’s Thumb Sucking

In previous post, it mentioned that parents should interfere to stop this habit only if your child permanent front teeth have started to come in. If you still let your child doing it, your child may get teeth problem.

If you still don’t what are the right things to do, I hope this article will help you. Here are the tips:

Make Your Child Think it's Her/His Idea
Don’t nag your child to stop the thumb sucking habit. The better way: support her/him to realize how much she/he has grown and changed. Show your child what she/he has left behind on her/his way to maturity.

Mention that she/he no longer has use for diapers, bottles, or high chairs. Tell your child how proud you are of the accomplishment. Ask your child what else she/he thinks she/he will stop. If your child doesn't say thumb sucking, then you should suggest it.

Reduce the Habit
When you see your child's thumb in his mouth, try to draw your child’s attention. Engage him/her in an activity that needs he/she use both hands. Do this especially before nap and bedtime. You can try this: have your child to hold the book that you are reading or hug a stuffed animal with each arm. Have another trick?

Help Your Child to be Consistent
When your child wants to quit thumb sucking, tell her/him about a habit that you also gave up and how hard it was. Then you can decide to make a secret sign- between the two of you.

Every time you see your child reflexively slips her/his thumb in her/his mouth—you can use the secret signal to aid her realize what she is doing. This secret signal can change a shameful situation in fun way.

Use Authority
Statements from your child's pediatrician and dentist can really work. They can help your child feel that he/she wants to stop sucking his thumb because he/she is growing up (this tip works for me!).

Consider Peer Pressure
In your child’s age, friends are very important. Invite your child’s friends who don’t suck thumbs to have a nap together with your child at your home. If your child sucks the thumb and her/his friends mention it, this might encourage her/ his to stop.

Well, now it’s your turn to decide which one that you will apply. Don’t forget to consider your child’s personality and age. Good luck!

Source:babyzone.com

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Water Droplets

I always love seeing water droplets on any plant. For me, it looks like beautiful crystal stones. This time, I want to share water droplets on Adiantum leaves in our front yard. It’s captured after the rain stopped that day.

My entry for Watery Wednesday

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About Child’s Thumb Sucking

Thumb sucking can comfort your child; but it also may cause teeth problem. If your toddler is still sucking thumb, perhaps you’re wondering when you should stop it.

I remember that when I was a toddler, I was also sucking my thumb. I stopped this habit by myself after I saw a doctor on television mentioned the bad effect of thumb sucking. Hehehe, my parents don’t need to bother at all…

Why children suck their thumbs? There are different reasons. For infants, it is a normal reflex that often starts in the Mom’s womb. As babies grow up, they discover a lot about their bodies and the world around them through sucking. They suck on their fingers, clothing, and toys. From this action they learn what is enjoyable and what is uncomfortable.

Many young children also use sucking to calm and comfort themselves. Since the action is relaxing, it often makes sleep. Perhaps you’ve noticed that your child will suck his/her thumb when he/she is tired. Actually, many thumb suckers fall asleep more effortlessly and sleep through the night much earlier than other children who don’t suck their thumbs.

According to the American Dental Association (ADA), after a child's permanent teeth come in, thumb sucking can cause problems. It can interfere with proper mouth growth, teeth alignment, and cause changes to the roof of the mouth.

It doesn’t mean that every thumb sucking child will get dental problem; it depends on how the intensity with which she sucks. A child who just rests her thumb in her mouth or passively sucks on it is less likely to develop problems than a child who sucks her thumb in intense.

When parents should stop thumb sucking?You should interfere by the time the permanent front teeth start coming in; it’s around the age of five. But parents, there’s good news: most children lose interest in thumb sucking long before five years old. So, you must handle it if your child is not one of them.

Parents, you should know this. Based on studies of older thumb suckers, it explained that there is one thing in common: all older thumb suckers were all persuaded by their parents to stop sucking their thumbs at an early age.

So, before your child permanent front teeth start to come in, you can allow this habit. Let’s say that you have seen your child’s permanent front teeth, but your child still continues sucking her thumb. It’s the proper time to stop the habit. I’ll share here the tips in another post.

Data source:babyzone.com
Image source: parentszone.com

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The Western Crowned Pigeon

I captured this scarce bird several years ago, at a Bird Park in Safari Park (Taman Safari) Cisarua Bogor.

This elegant bird is also known as the Common Crowned Pigeon or Blue Crowned Pigeon (Goura cristata). Indonesia people call it Dara Mahkota. It is a large, approximately 75cm long, blue-grey pigeon with blue lacy crests over the head and dark blue mask feathers around its eyes. Both sexes are almost similar but males are often larger than females. So beautiful!

Along with its close and very similar looking relatives the Victoria Crowned Pigeon and the Southern Crowned Pigeon; it is one of the largest and is considered one of the most beautiful members of the pigeon family. The Western Crowned Pigeon is found in the lowland rainforests of Papua, Indonesia. Since it’s one of scarce species critters, I hope that we, human kind, can maintain these birds for many years to come!

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Couple’s Corner : I Think I Will Get…

Actually, CC topic of this week is about the expected Christmas gift that you think you’ll get from your spouse. Since I don’t celebrate Christmas, I’ll share another kind of story, but it’s still about ‘gift’.

In my marriage, gift giving is not our regular habit. My husband never gives me a birthday gift or wedding anniversary gift. We just have dinner at our favorite dining place and then he gives and says a special prayer for me. But of course, it doesn’t mean that he never buys me things. He actually loves to buy me a little things that I like; but most of all it’s his spontaneous acts, so, it doesn’t relate with any occasion.

Last year (October 2009), there was one time that really surprised me. At that time, my husband has just recovered after having sick for weeks and it’s the first day he started doing his routine activities again. Before leaving home, he gave me a short poem. He said that it was a thankful gift for my caring while he’s sick.

I was so touched. It’s a happy surprise for me as he has never written me a poem before. The poem is in Indonesian language (I’ll share the translation version). It’s short, have no title, but it’s full of his love. I’ve shared this poem in my old post, but I’d like to share it again here.To My Wife:

You are my adoration when I want to adore

You are like blood that running in my life

You are not decent to be given love… but you deserve to have a complete love from me – with all my heart

You are not an altar…but…you are like an altar that always get compliment and worship

You are not an ordinary person…in my life, you are an extraordinary one

My beloved kind wife, I love and adore you so much

My love and affection -ordinary and special one- I want to give it all to you…

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The Bordered Bridge

I captured these watery shots around my grandfather’s house (Ciamis, West Java, Indonesia). This modest bamboo bridge borders grandfather’s land and neighbor’s fish pond.

My entry for Watery Wednesday

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Educational Daycare: a Great Solution for Busy Moms and Dads?

Nowadays, it has already become common facts that both parents, Moms and Dads, must work outside their homes. The piling bills and current hard economic situation force many parents to do this. Some parents ask their relatives to care for their children while they are working. If you have reliable and capable relatives who want to look after your child while you’re not at home, you’re lucky!

Some other parents hire a nanny. Well, it’s all up to you, parents, but I myself won’t try this option, unless I have known well the nanny before and she is recommended by people that I’m close with. Seeing news in television that showed a nanny tortured a baby makes me paranoid!

Well, if you are super busy parents who don’t feel comfortable to hire a nanny and you also live far from your relatives, have you considered taking your toddler to an educational daycare? My first time knowing a daycare facility is when I was in lower secondary school. There’s a daycare facility next to my school. Every morning, I see lots of parents came to entrust their children. Sometimes, I and several friends looked inside through the windows and watched several playing children and sleeping babies. So cute.

I agree with the importance of early childhood education, as recommended by many experts. It’s a big task for every parent. But as parents, you should realize that you aren’t specially educated and trained as educators for your child. There are lot of things about children’s grow and development process that you don’t yet aware.

For your information, there are five equally important areas of young child’s development. Remember this “SPICE”: Social, Physical, Intellectual, Creative and Emotional Development. To maximize your child’s potency, you should ensure that your child has experienced and passed through all these developments appropriately.

That’s why, in my opinion, your child also need early education from trained and certified early childhood educators at a certified preschool or daycare. Together with your children, you can learn from educators there. I’m a stay at home woman, so, I prefer to choose a quality preschool. For busy parents, a quality certified educational daycare can be the best choice.

Give your young child a valuable fun learning experience in a school environment since early age; and watch your child’s development progress in every area. You’ll be amazed and grateful!

I wrote this article as an expression of my opinion, after reading the article written by Emily Patterson and Kathleen Thomas. Emily and Kathleen are Communications Coordinators for the Atlanta day care facility, a member of the AdvancED® accredited family of Primrose Schools (located in 16 states throughout the U.S.) and part of the network of day care preschools delivering progressive, early childhood, Balanced Learning® curriculum.

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