Security ItemsWritten by Rexanne Mancini
My older daughter sucked her thumb. She did so until she was six. My younger daughter had a love affair with her bottles and pacifiers until she was six. Both girls gave up their security rituals on their own, in their own time and when they were ready to give them up. This is not to say that it didn't distress me to see their teeth protruding and to know that orthodontic bills loomed large in our future. I just couldn't do it to them ... couldn't take away something that was so important to their feelings of security and their self-enforced methods of soothing savage. I think, of three horrors above, bottle was worst. I did take bottles away from my older daughter when she was three. It wasn't so traumatic. She wanted a bottle for a few nights but knew she had to give them up for sake of her teeth and complied. My younger daughter absolutely refused to give bottle boot from her life until only recently. Her two front permanent teeth, which had come in early, were turning gray. As soon as she stopped drinking a nightly bottle, her teeth began to whiten on their own. Mind you, I did not force her to give up dreaded baba. She decided, out of blue, to give it up on her own. A few nights of tears and trauma later, she had overcome her habit and was on her way to falling asleep with only a few dozen pacifiers littering her bed. Shortly thereafter, pacifiers were history, too. Since decision was hers, I didn't feel guilt over refusing her request to change her mind. Know this parents ... your kids are not going to start high school sucking on their thumbs, a pacifier or bottle. They might still have a shred of their old security blanket, a severely damaged favorite stuffed toy or a doll that has seen better side of new but they will move on and grow up without these babyish soothers. Kids have a need to ensure some control over their powerless environment. Think about how little say they have in anything that happens to or for them. They're subjected to painful shots as infants and toddlers (among countless other horrors) that they no more understand than you and I understand genocidal murder and torture in third world countries. They have a little mastery over soothing themselves with a pacifier, a bottle or their thumb and then, bam! They're forced to give up something that comforts them. We can justify this by arguing that it's for their own good. Yes, it is, but there are many restrictions and limitations we plant on them that are a lot more important than taking away a relatively harmless habit.
| | Speech ImpedimentsWritten by Rexanne Mancini
All children must learn how to speak ... a given under normal circumstances. While not all children have problems developing their speech and linguistic fluency, some kids find pronunciation and language flow difficult. Repeating words, struggling to enunciate correctly and stuttering to be understood while a toddler is learning to talk is absolutely normal and might continue until a child has mastered speaking. This could be by age three, age five or older, depending on child. There is, to this day, no definite theory on true stuttering. Many psychologists and medical doctors feel condition is neurological or physiological in nature. While this may be case in most instances, a child’s speech impediments could be caused by insensitive and cruel treatment in childhood, specifically tormenting them about their natural developing speech patterns and struggle with learning pronunciation and complex words. It stands to reason that patience, gentle guidance and encouragement when children are attempting to communicate their first words is vital to their well-being and self-esteem.
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