The Dangers of Thumb Sucking Revealed
The Dangers of Thumb Sucking Revealed
For any parent, one of the most important things that you can do in life is set a good example for your children. Our children look to us to be their guidance, their role models, and their general help in life. If you want to do that, then you have to be ready to work with the right kind of methodology. Parenting is not an exact science, and what works for your child may be wildly different from what works for another. Let’s continue with the dangers of thumb sucking!
Some parents, for example, take a more liberal approach to dealing with their children. They help them to learn by doing, leaving them with the room needed to make mistakes and, in time, learn from said mistakes. It’s often a good way of letting the child learn for themselves instead of always leaving your child to do everything by the commands that you give.
That being said, it’s clear that the dangers of letting a young child be independent without consequence can be as damaging as forceful parenting. For example, when it comes to things like stopping thumb sucking, many parents wait too long to deal with the problem that’s at hand – literally.
Wait, thumb sucking is bad for you?
Yes, quite. While it might not seem bad for us, thumb sucking for children can have some serious social and health-based stigmas. For example, the fact that thumb sucking is often associated with the womb should be a good starting point for knowing why you should keep an eye on the thumb sucking.
In the womb, a child will be seen sucking their thumb. In the chaotic world of being born, it’s seen as a natural reflex reaction to give them something to concentrate on and to ease their anxiety. When we leave the comfortable household of the womb, it’s common to return to that pre-birth experience of sucking on our thumbs.
Add in the fact that most babies are breastfed, too, and it’s easy to see why so many turn to thumb sucking in the first place. It’s the kind of highly comforting experience that should help you to snap out of your discomfort and just enjoy the world a little more than you might do already.
By doing this, you also open up something quite interesting with regard to your child’s general mindset. If they feel this is acceptable, they’ll continue.
So why is thumb sucking so bad?
- Well, for one, it plays a major role in making teeth change. In young children, when they are still forming and developing, thumb sucking can cause problems with the way they shape up.
- From the mouth perhaps being a little wider to make problems with underbite and overbite problems you can soon see your child has issues with their teeth that would have been avoided if they simply had stopped thumb sucking from a young age.
- Thumb sucking is a big issue purely on the basis that it changes the shape of the mouth. Before long, the mouth will have fully changed and start to deform into a look that normally would be something we would try and hide.
- The end result is that the mouth deforms and can leave your child with teething problems that might be hard to fix as time goes on. This is going to leave them with teeth that are out of their natural alignment.
- By the same token, it will them with the need to go for extensive dental work as time goes on. This means using braces and orthodontic care to try to put teeth back into shape.
What about social issues?
Yes, sadly this will bring about some social issues. These tend to include problems such as:
Your child feels very nervous when they smile in public. Due to the shape of their teeth, they might feel quite uncomfortable about the concept of showing their teeth off in public.
Also, it might make them feel unhappy about how their teeth look and how they shape up. This could make them want to get braces to solve the problem, which brings their own social stigma.
On top of that, you have the unique issue whereby the issues that your child faces and lives with will be a continual strain on their mental health and their general well-being. From people teasing them about their looks to making them do everything they can to cover up the problem, this can soon exasperate into a very serious issue indeed.
What can I do to prevent the danger of thumb sucking?
Fear not, solutions do exist. From a young age, you can simply use the power of positive reinforcement to help your child come out to the other side. When you ask them to stop thumb sucking and you can see a noticeable reduction, reward them with something that they want. The danger of thumb sucking can easily be prevented if you take care of your child.
At the same time, be clear to your child about the cons of not caring for their teeth and stopping thumb sucking. Let them know that it can cause dental deformation and that it can be very hard to fix, and that they will need to wear metal on their teeth. This will be more than likely to help them see why they need to make that change in the shortest time possible: who wants to wear metal in the mouth?
If this does not work, then consider the use of language to make them see. For example, telling them that big boys and girls do not suck their teeth is a good one. It makes them want to grow up and leave behind their need for childish behavior. This could make them want to adjust to fit with the narrative that ‘big’ children do not do this.
If you have any other children in the family of a relatable age, ask them to try and relay the message, too. They might not listen to you, but might listen to a fellow friend!
It’s simple enough to stop the danger of thumb sucking; you just need to realize how important it is to make them stop in the first place.
Bio:
Article by GloveyHuggey.com a glove created by a mother for necessity, literally…a mother had a problem with her little son who just won’t stop thumb sucking. She tried other products out there; nail polish, band-aids, and even the expensive thumb guards. So after several failed products she set out on her own and created the Glovey Huggey.