HOT TOPIC-THUMB SUCKING:HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?
Zahara,5, does it. So do many other celeb and non-celeb kids, but how old is too old for a child to be sucking his/her thumb?
An expert weighs in: “Thumb sucking does not cause permanent problems with the teeth or jaw line unless it is continued beyond 4 to 5 years of age. As it turns out, somewhere between 85% and 99% of children have finished thumb sucking spontaneously before this period (Source).”
So, How old is too old? Do you agree with the expert?
Photos (courtesy of Infdaily/PcnPhotos) show Zahara sucking away on an outing with her family on 3/16.
67 Comments to “HOT TOPIC-THUMB SUCKING:HOW OLD IS TOO OLD?”
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i say about 18. when one reaches 18 they should do it in private
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I think thumb sucking should become socially acceptable. I mean, after all, so many other (worse) things are and, truly, it’s non-invasive anyway so why all the bother? I think that stopping should be a personal decision and that nonstopping the norm. It’s safe, legal, convenient, cheap and very effective at producing calm, focus, sleep and more.
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I say about 6 years old
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LOL!!! I have seen grown @$$ adults do it out in public and it just makes me cringe!!!!
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Me too. >_<
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LOL..ME TOO! HaHa.. sometimes its a lil RidicuLous!
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My grown cousins used to suck their thumbs but not in public. I was never allowed to suck my thumb ever. If I even pretended to suck my thumb my mom was like you better not because of all the germs that are on our hands and especially children because they touch a lot of germy surfaces. It’s not a healthy habit at all.
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at 2 I think thumb sucking is so disgusting, childrens hands be everywhere and then they go n stick they finger in their mouth ugh
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I was in my twenties when I stopped sucking my thumb. One day I just stopped and have never sucked my thumb again. I have a SLIGHT yet noticeable overlap but for the most part, my teeth are pretty straight. I believe that if I hadn’t sucked my thumb for so long they would be pretty perfect, but I still get compliments on my teeth often because of how white they are and how straight.
I think the reason it wasn’t worse for me is because I usually only sucked my thumb at night. I didn’t suck my thumb in public. Also, maybe I didn’t put a lot of pressure on my teeth when I sucked my thumb? I think that could play a factor in the effect it has on the teeth. ]
I hated this habit and can’t believe I did it for so long. But even after I became an adult, it was a form of comfort for me. A big concern for me is that my children will become thumbsuckers. I have a friend who sucked her thumb as an adult as well but stopped years before she had kids so they’ve never seen her suck her thumb yet both of her boys suck their’s.
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Thank You! While I stopped sucking my thumb when I was about 10 or 11, there is a common misconception that it ruins your teeth. I am ALWAYS asked by any new dentist if I had braces as a child (I didn’t) because my teeth are so straight.
Don’t force your children to get rid of this great comforting tool. Although I never sucked my thumb in public out of fear of being ridiculed, my mom always let me do it without criticism. They will stop when they are ready.
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I USE TO BE A THUMB SUCKER AND DIDN’T GROW OUT OF IT TIL I WAS LIKE 16. LOL!!! I DIDN’T DO IT IN PUBLIC…BUT CATCH ME IN ANYONE HOUSE (FAMILY OR FRIENDS) ESPECIALLY WATCHING T.V., THEN ITS ON…LMAO!
I LOOK BACK AND LAUGH AT THEM DAYS NOW…LOL!!! 4RM THA QUEEN
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OMG! I was 16 also. I’d gotten my nails done and they were a little longer than the very 1st time I got them done. I didn’t it in public either, moms wasn’t having it. LOL! But when we were at home, it wasn’t a problem. And my teeth are fine aside from a barely noticeable overbite. Matter of fact I didn’t even get a cavity til last year and I’m almost 25.
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The bigger concern for me is why Shiloh ALWAYS looks like a boy. It’s okay to be a tomboy, I was a tomboy until the 5th grade, but must she actually look like a boy? It would concern me as a parent that my 3 year old will only answer to a boys name and wants to dress like a boy, all the time. I’m just saying, I don’t think it’s cute anymore.
And let me just say, I think that it is more imporant that she is healthy, which she seems to be, and I don’t think they are bad parents. I don’t know these people so I can’t make a judgement on their parenting. But as many tomboys as I’ve seen, I’ve never seen a girl go this far with it at such young an age.
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exactly! u kno what, if brad n angie didn’t encourage her in this behaviour then she probly wudda forgotten all about it after a little time. instead they have cemented it as ‘part of who she is’
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Apart from germs which are everywhere, it’s one of the more harmless habits people develop to console themselves. It’s socially unacceptable but there are worse things. If little Z needs it, let her have it. Cute blanket and all. Just teach her to keep her hands clean at least.
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if they’re in Preschool (4 years old) they should not be thumb sucking, drinking from a bottle or wearing diapers except maybe a diaper at night.
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This chick I know does it at 23 yrs old. Smh…
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i started sucking my tom when i was in kindergarden. my mom said i came home from school and started to do it. i have not stop and i am now 25. its really sad too. i want to stop but its like an addiction. when i was younger my mom tried everything she would put bitter aloe on my fingers, rub a dity diaper, hot hot pepper, and even wrapp it up in bandage but i still comtinue to do it. it wasnt until high school that i began to do it in private because of my age and i was embarrised. right now the only person who knows that i still do it is my boyfriend and he cant stand it. i tried to stop but i found my tumb in my mouth not even knowing that i put it there.
there is a website call tumb sucking adults that i found a few months ago and was shock to suprise how many adults still has this habit. many reasearchers says adults who still suck their thumbs are extremely normal but they use this act as a comforter, a calmer, and it ease the person,…..
im still learning to stop…. hopefully i can do this before i get kids.
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There’s no reason to stop. Most of the arguments are falsehoods, especially the one about the germs. You’re stomach can handle germs, and it does so every day. In fact, your immune system strengthens by being exposed to germs.
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Concerned,Brad mentioned on Oprah in 2008 when Shiloh was 2 that she liked to be called John or Peter because of Peter Pan. For all we know that ended when she was 2 .Stop accepting something(that she wants to be called John in 2010) in tabloids as gospel.I personally think accepting kids as they are and loving them unconditionally is better than damaging their self esteem. Chaz Bono(who by the way was always dressed in girly clothes by Cher) talked about how she was depressed and suicidal and never felt comfortable partly because she was never allowed to be her true self.Shiloh knows her parents love and respect her so if this isn’t a phase if she turns about to be lesbian or transgendered she will be less likely to deal with self hatred and depression because her family has her back.BTW my cousin killed himself because his family couldn’t accept a “sissy” in the family. He was 14
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Kim, who told you that I based my comment about Shiloh wanting to be called John on tabloids? I in fact did not. I got that straight from her daddy’s mouth. I remember the interview with Brad as well and juding by the way she looks, I’m assuming she still wants to be called John, Peter or whatever. I don’t actually know if that’s the case, but neither do you.
I think you came a little hard at me. I don’t think my comment was harsh at all nor deserve your harsh response. Have you read other’s comments on the matter and are responding to me the way you have or want to respond to them? I didn’t say force the girl into a dress or never allow her to express herself at all or be an individual. But from her hair, to the name thing, to her clothes that are definitely male clothing, ALL AT 3 YEARS OF AGE, it just seems very odd to me. I mean, at such a young age, I’m very interested in why she wants to be that way. Excuse me if I think girls should look like girls and boys should look like boys. I don’t know, maybe I need to have my head examined for that. As I said, I was a tomboy myself. Me becoming a very prissy priss had nothing to do with my parents influence. I’m glad that they allowed me to run and play with the boys instead of forcing me to play with dolls but I’m equally glad they didn’t allow me to have a boys haircut and wear boys clothes. No one will ever look back at pictures of me and mistake me for my brother as they do Shiloh and that may be a small thing to you, but I’m glad for that.
I think the reason why some have issues and resort to suicide or have thoughts of it, is because of the way parents or those around them deal with them being “different”. I’ll give you an example of what I mean. For many years while I was growing up, I thought I was a lesbian. Of course it started at such an early age and I didn’t quite know the term of it at the time. It wasn’t until I was in my early 20s though that I started to act on the feelings I had. For 7 years I dated only women. When I “came out” to my family, many responded in love. But my father stopped talking to me almost completely. I was no longer his baby girl and I no longer got an “I love you” when we did talk on the phone. Though the rest of my family treated me no differently, I became very angry with the way my father treated me. I can’t tell you how much this hurt me. Had everyone in my family responded that way, I may have had thoughts of suicide myself. But I knew I had so many people around me that loved me no matter what. But though everyone else treated me no differently and made sure I knew they loved me, most of them were not necessarily accepting of my lifestlye. But they expressed how they felt about it in love and allowed me to figure it out on my own and I also can’t tell you how their honestly in love helped me. And figure it out I did, but without the pressure of having my family reject me if I didn’t live my life they way they felt I should. If you talk to kids or those you love IN LOVE instead of just trying to conform them, I think less people will respond the way your cousin did, which I really hate happened btw. Love never fails. I really believe that.
I’m very interested to know if YOU would let your 3 year old daughter have a boy haircut, dress in boy clothing, and be called by a boy’s name. I’m not sorry to say this but me and my child would be having some conversations and we would be trying to figure some things out. I’m just keeping it real. I would try to understand what brought it on. And if it was something severe like in my case, being molested, I would try to deal with THAT first. Some have said that she’s probably dressing this way because she’s trying to be like her dad or big brothers. But I would point out that there are ways to be like them without actually wanting to dress like a boy or be a boy in fact she does.
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Sometimes it’s CHEMICAL. We all are not born from cookie-cutters. Gender is never cut and dry as many know very early in life but are often forced to hide it to avoid ostracism or worse!
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Please Virgie tell me what’s chemical about this? How does it work? Is there a name for it? Has it been proven? How was it proven? I’m just curious. Until you or someone else helps me understand I will continue to think that’s a load of mess that someone put out there to try to justify this behavior. You can believe that foolishness if you want to but I don’t think that there is any chemical malfunctioning in our body that makes girls think they are boys and vice versa. And gender is pretty cut and dry. If you have a vajajay then you are a female. If you have a slim stick you are a male. Even most 3 year olds understand that. But at the age of two when they start wanting to be called boys names and they are in fact a girl and then wanting dress like a boy, I think it’s a good time to help them understand.
I don’t think most people would be so accepting if it was a 3 year old boy dressing like a girl. If Monica allowed Lil Rocko to wear a dress with pink sandals, and grew his hair out and put it in ponytails, and called him Nia because that’s all he would answer to, most people would think that this chic had flipped out and wondering why she was allowing it instead of talking to her son. As a matter of fact, I don’t think people would be so accepting if Angie and Brad shaved Zahara’s hair off and allowed her to wear her brother’s clothes and shoes ALL the time and called her Zeke, even if she wanted to. My concern is that Shiloh is is so young and behaving this way and excuse me for wondering why. Excuse me for being concerned but it’s very odd to me. Trust me, I’m not losing sleep over it but every time I see this little girl I SMH.
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I think it’s all chemical. The brain is a powerful organ!
I believe that there are many people born 1 sex but believes, to no end, that they the other sex.
It may be gender jealously – Ive watched a 20/20 special on this. What I observed is that the children who believed they were the opposite usually believed so after being old enough to know the difference between the genders (4+) and/or had a sibling of the opposite sex.
This is such a complicated topic, there isn’t a right or wrong answer. What is needed in these cases is a strong foundation. A household where the child is accepted, loved and treated respectfully. Which what Angelina and Brad is doing for their children.
We shouldn’t criticize or bash people simply because they are different or aren’t doing what the majority feels is right. We (as black people) should have a little more compassion. We too were criticize, killed, harassed & so forth because of our skin color. The majority as the time believed we were “not normal” “not right” “different” – so how dare we?
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Case in point..Chastity Bono, a celebrity child who has recently underwent surgery to become Chaz Bono. It’s a man now from being born a cute little girl.
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Excuse me but what point did you prove by bringing up Chaz Bono. That’s one person. Still not buying the chemical thing. LOL @ you calling him/her an “it”.
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@concerned, For the record, I am NOT homophobic. I mentioned Chastity Bono because I interpreted Virgie’s use of the word “chemical” to mean hormonal or genetic which Chastity has mentioned he felt more male than female all of his life.
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I think your comment is ignorant and very narrow minded to say the least. Gender identity is not determined by the clothing a child chooses to wear or a child wanting their family or friends to call them by their favorite cartoon character in shy’s case peter in reference to her favorite Disney character peter pan. Research has shown that children brought up in gender neutral households are more likely to not only grow up heterosexual but more sensitive to the plight and struggles related to both sexes. The times that I’ve seen Shy in what could be considered traditional male attire it appears more costum and “play clothes.” None the less there are far more things a parent should be concerned about in regards to their child’s welfare. Like if they are happy, healthy & thriving academically and socially. This isn’t the first time you’ve made comments about this topic. My question to you is why is having a child who is gay or identifies with the opposite sex a reason for concern in the first place?! You should try opening your heart & mind and closing your mouth!!!
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@Darcie
Darcie I really could care less if you think my comment is ignorant or narrow-minded. That’s your opinion which you are free to express just as I am free to express how I feel about a female child so young dressing as a male. And every time I’ve seen her which has been a lot lately, not just on this site but on other sites which unlike this one, tend to showcase her more instead of Zahara, she’s dressed in boy clothing. Only one or two of those were in costume. I think it’s gone way beyond a plaything. As I’ve said before, in the beginning I thought her wanting to be called John/Peter was adorable. Then came the clothes…ALL the time. Next came the hairstyle. I didn’t say that it was wrong, I said that I was concerned that a child so young is making these choices. In a recent interview, Brad said the took the girls shopping and that Shiloh went straight for the boys section. Now I believe in letting parents parent their own child. But are they actually parenting or are they just allowing. Little kids minds and imaginations will go wild if you let it. She may be thinking that she wants to be a boy because it’s cool to be a boy or because she wants to be like daddy or her brothers. All I’ve said is that I hoped they have talked to her about it instead of just allowing it so that she doesn’t get conformed into something she isn’t all because she initially just wanted to be like daddy.
You can tell me about research all day long and I can tell you about personal experience, mine and countless other women and men that I know. In most cases, our experience completely discounts research. And I don’t believe that I need to open my mind about something that I experienced first hand.
I too believe that it’s more important that the child is healthy among other things. I even said so in my first comment. Lastly, this is my first time bringing this up or sharing on a thread on this site about this topic. But if I brought it up 10 times, I am certainly free to do so. I’ve responded to many comments on this thread so if you care to know my intentions for bringing it up, read all of my comments. If you don’t agree with them, you just don’t agree.
@Pisces. I didn’t think you were a homophobic. My point was, one person’s experience doesn’t prove to be true for a large group of people. And did he even say that he felt it was chemical? If not then I don’t see the relation. Just because he always felt he was a woman in a man’s body doesn’t mean that it was anything chemical. ANd even if he did, that would still just be his opinion. My opinion is that one has nothing to do with the other.
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Point taken. Okay, Darcie.
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I meant, point taken, @Concerned. Okay.
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I don’t get why it matters…I did it until I was about 13. My brother is 17 an still does it. I have an older cousin with two kids and she still does it. It’s whatev
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I think thumb/finger sucking needs to be stopped as soon as you notice it. My almost 9 year old sucks his middle & ring fingers. We noticed it when he was only 1 day old! We thought it would probably stop when he was a toddler. But it didn’t and still hasn’t. LOL I’m always pulling his fingers out of his mouth when he’s sleeping.
We definetly thought we’d stop him from sucking before he started school, but it was too late by then. As a result of his thumb sucking he has a slight lisp, an overbite ( which will require braces, which are quite expensive ) and has to attend speech therapy.
Besides messing up their teeth and possible speech problems. It makes their breath and fingers stink!
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I don’t really see a problem with it. And who cares if they pick up germs, it will only make their immune system stronger lol.
The crazy thing about me is that I NEVER sucked my thumb as a child, never even had the inclination to do so, but I picked up the habit when I was 18 or 19. I don’t know why or how it happened. And now at 21 I still do it, only in private tho. I don’t do it too often, really only when I’m deep in thought or doing something tedious, like homework. But for me its more that I chew on my thumb not suck. It hasn’t messed up my teeth at all but it has caused a callous to form on my thumb.
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UHHHHHHH I STILL SUCK MY THUMB AND I AM 27 YEARS OLD…I DONT DO IT IN PUBLIC BUT IT IS DEFINITELY A SAFE HAVEN FOR ME…I HAVE CHILDREN AND I DID NOT ALLOW THEM TO EVEN DARE GET HOOKED ON THEIR THUMB LIKE ME…
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this makes me think of taraji’s character in baby boy. “yvette” stayed sucking her thumb. i think it’s about security, and if grown ppl still do it…then they’re not ready to let go of something.
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I know girls at my school pregnant and sucking their thumbs like its nothing. I say stop when you get 5 so it want be a habit.
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i suck my thumb but imma stop til it’s 2 “late”
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My mom and my little sister, who is 18, still suck their thumbs. They just do it in the privacy of their homes.
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if everybody in the world would worry about their own kids the world would be a better place.
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I’m in my 30s & still suck my thumb, in private though & usually at night. As child I was teased about it & my family tried all they could to get me to stop – even rubbing bitter stuff on it. I was defiant & felt that no one had the right to tell me what to do. I think I was about 21 when I decided to stop, but I’ve now resumed it in my 30s. At this stage my attempts at stopping are half-hearted. My family & I often joke about how stubborn I was & didn’t care what anyone else said or thought of me. Fortunately the teasing at school didn’t get to me, even when I reached high-school. I was lucky in that I wasn’t a follower & peer-pressure didn’t affect me.
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I think parents should break the habit before permanent teeth come in,because it is not a misconception that thumbsucking mishapens teeth…it actually does,as well as sucking a pacifier.Once permanent teeth come in both habits can cause front teeth to protrude forward so unless you mind expensive orthodontic bills then suck on!
And what’s the deal with so many adult age people sucking their thumbs. I mean really they might as well just suck a bottle,put on a bonnett a diaper and a onsie too.
GOO GOO GAH GAH!!!
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I suppose that smoking would be, for you, a better alternative? Thumb sucking is very natural and it should be obvious to you that, if many adults are doing it, that it isn’t a behavior relagated solely for infants, something you seem to ignorantly believe. Infants smile too, is that babyish? Do you use sarcasm whenever you discover something that is both new and doesn’t conform to your limited range of reality?
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Have you tried a “Thumbuddy To Love” ? I thing beyond the age of 4 or 5, one needs to really work on it to break the thumb sucking habit and this product is great! My kids loved it! you can get it on Amazon or on their web site…
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My son was about 8 when he stopped, but only after his grandmother kept putting hot sauce on his fingers. My two younger sisters stopped around the same time.
And, my best friend used to suck her thumb up until her 20′s. She would hide it, though, (kind of holding her two hands together, like she was praying, fingers folded, and then slip the thumb in her mouth).
I don’t see anything wrong with it. Maybe it means something, psychologically, but my friend seemed to be pretty normal, except for that.
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I agree with you. I’m a thumb-sucker myself and I’m 20, my cousin who is older than me is also a thumb-sucker. I really don’t suck my thumb unless I’m going to sleep or thinking about my mom who died when I was 2! For the most part it doesn’t affect my teeth. I only have small bottom teeth that never really grew fully, which creates a tiny gap between my top and bottom rows. Almost all the time people tell me how cute my smile is, which is also my best feature!
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Never sucked my thumb. I used to watch my classmates do it in nursery school, and I gave it a try once. That experiment ended in no time. At 4 years old, I never understood why anyone would suck their thumb.
Anyway, I remember giving my classmate a side eye for sucking her thumb while we were 10 year old 6th graders. I never saw anyone sucking away past grade 1, so seeing a girl about to sit entrance exams for high school sucking her thumb like it’s going out of style was a real “what the…?” experience.
So before age 8 is the time to end that ish in public. That way, your kid won’t end up like my 20 odd year old college classmate who can’t function without a forefinger in his mouth at all times. Yes, that is messed up.
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one of my 20 year old male cousins does it, i think its cute…sorry
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I still suck my thumb in private but mostly during REM sleep…since I was an infant and I’m over 30 now. I don’t about my teeth (I have all of them), either. Personally, all this attention on the superficial and worrying what other people think about what makes us/me comfortable is for the birds.
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My mom still sucks her thumb she is in her 50′s but NEVER in public and only when she is about to go to sleep lol i think thats just her soothing mecanism she said her mom took her off the bottle really early… I wonder why some folks do it and others dont and why some people can stop and others cant but i do suck my tongue but thats not noticiable at all to anyone looking at me
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if your kids suck their thumb leave them alone about it..its a comfort thing they will stop when they get ready.I sucked my thumb until I was 12 .I stopped because it was jacking up my teeth LMAO!.But my dad tried everything to get me to stop even tied a sock to my hand with yarn before bed.Guess what I chewed off that yarn for two hours until I could free my thumb.LEAVE THE THUMB SUCKERS ALONE!
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CHILDREN SUCK THERE THUMB AS A FORM OF COMFORT.
USUALLY DURING STRESSFUL TIMES.
IF THEY ARE NOT COMFORTED OR TAUGHT HOW TO COMFORT THEMSELVES THEY WILL CONTINUE TO SUCK THERE THUMB PAST CHILDHOOD.
JUST A FACT.
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MY Sister sucked her middle two fingers until she was 15….that was 9years ago but i’m 20 and one of my good frenz who is 20 still sucks her thumb finger…..she says sucking it has become like air to her…she just does it like we just breathe….she does it unconsiously she said ….sooo i don’t think there is ever a right time to stop….just when the person is ready i suppose…
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I started sucking my thumb when I was 5, saw cousins doing it. I stopped at 21 when I started to SLEEP with men. In other countries they don’t have pacifers and the children are taught to suck their thumbs so they can always comfort themselves, a step towards independence.
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lol I love what was your incentive to stop suckin your thumb… i have a 25 year old cousin MARRIED but no kids i still see her suckin her thumb in private only though
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Concerned, gender is between the ears not between the brain. If your little boy’s penis was severed at birth would he still be a male? Genitals don’t determine gender.There are people born intersex with testes and ovaries. There are girls born with XXY chromosomes who receive higher levels of testerone than the typical female.Yes I would let my little girl wear pants and t shirts since in our society its ok for females to wear pants or dresses. In America its not acceptable for little boys to wear dresses because there is a double standard. As a matter fact I’m wearing a mans shirt right now but it wouldn’t be accepted for my husband to wear a dress to work.As for Shiloh my point was Brad told that story about her wanting to be called John or Peter in 2008 for over a year after that story she was wearing dresses and her parents were referring to her as Shiloh so for all we know she stopped wanted to be called John at age 2. Her grandfather just did an interview in which he talked about her as Shiloh. The tabloid Lies and Style just printed an article last week were they stated she wanted to be called John based on Brad’s 2008 interview implying that she still wants to be called that .I don’t believe anything in that tabloid.As for her haircut we don’t DK who(maybe she was playing with scissors) or why her hair was cut so I would rather not make assumptions. I respect her parents for letting her express her uniqueness.
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I totally agree with you.
I also believe Shiloh was playing with scissors. Her hair has been short since Aug 2008 but covered with a hat.
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@ Kim. I honestly hadn’t seen that article. I don’t read that magazine nor have I seen reference to it anywhere else until now. I was basing it off of what Brad said a while back. As I said, I don’t know if she still wants to be called John/Peter. But you don’t know if she doesn’t. I wouldn’t assume so either if she wasn’t always wearing boy clothes and sporting a very boyish haircut. I’ve seen short cuts on girls. This is way beyond that. And I don’t know if the haircut was a result of her taken scissors to her head. Again, if it wasn’t for the boys clothes… I had considered that though.
Of course her grandfather would refer to her as Shiloh. I wouldn’t expect otherwise.
I didn’t ask if you would let her wear pants and t-shirt. Many girls wear pants and a t-shirt. For all I know, in the house she might be completely girly girl. All I have to go by is all of the pictures of her outside. But there are many and in every single one as of late, she’s dressed as a boy. My question is, would you let your 3 year old daughter dress in clothing that is clearly for a boy, each and every time she walked out the house? Or would you sit her down, talk to her and try to figure out why she wants to dress as a boy in the first place? I would not just let my 3 year old just have at it without a lot of conversation and an attempt at understanding. 3 year old can be very confused about a lot of things. You see it as being unique. I see it as being confused.
And since I don’t know this family personally, I have no way of knowing this for sure but I don’t think Shiloh was born with testes and ovaries or with xxy chromosomes.
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@ must be a Pisces thing….
Don’t you think that instead of just being so quick to accept this type of behavior, it would be better to “lovingly” talk to the child to try to understand why they are behaving that way?
You’re right, in the black community we can be very hard on family members that are gay or that behave as such, especially at a young age. But let’s not go from one extreme to the other. Let’s not now be quick to encourage the behavior in the name of compassion. What I think we should do is seek to understand that person and where the behavior is coming from. I think we can’t be quick to assume because it’s not the same in every case. I think we should be talking to kids at a very young age. Again, I’m not talking about forcing the child in any way. I think that you are very right when you said that the mind is a powerful thing. But that doesn’t mean that it has anything to do with something that’s chemical. Sometimes there are events or other factors, such as gender jealousy as you mentioned, sexual abuse or any number of things that can cause a person to truly convince themselves of something. For years you couldn’t tell me that I wasn’t gay. The confusion about my sexuality started when I was very young I hid it for so many years and never had anyone to speak to about it. Then I opened up only after I acted on it as I said before. I was in relationships for many years before I finally took the time to search, with the help of no family or friends or anyone, to find out if that was really me, or if there was some other issue that was causing me think/feel that way. I remember having a friend that I had only known to be gay one day telling me that she wasn’t anymore. I thought she was the biggest sell-out for denying herself. You see, the media, other homosexuals and heterosexuals who think they are being compassionate, will make you feel like you are not being true to yourself if you don’t accept it for yourself. But in my case, after I got away from all present outside influences and just searched within my own past experiences and past influences, I found it to be another issue. And I dealt with that issue. A three year old can’t do that. A sixteen year old can’t do that. And most adults won’t take to the time do it because they are so “convinced”.
You say how dare we, but I believe that you do children/people a disservice when you accept behavior without trying to understand where it’s coming from. I don’t think we need to ostracize them. I don’t think we need to encourage it. I think we need to talk about it. It’s the same with so many other things that you see in kids or young teens: acting out violently/being abusive, being promiscuous, and a number of other inappropriate behavior that you see in young children/teens that we never deal with properly, especially in the black community. But not talking about it or being quick to accept it only did me a disservice because the real issue was never dealt with.
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I guess what I’m trying to say is, let’s find out if there is another issue that is causing the behavior. If there is, lets deal with it. Why we shouldn’t belittle or ostracize or shun them, we should be so quick to go with the flow. As someone above said, when you encourage certian behavior you can help convince them that it’s part of who they are.
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im 20 something yrs old and still stuck my thumb in private or when im hungry and sleepy i want to stop so bad but i can’t. i have a over bite and look good with it, but my friends think i don’t sucking my thumb because i told them i don’t.
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I SAY 8 AFTER THAT STOP.
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ANYWAY I WAS’NT ALLOWED TO CUZ I HEARD IT MESSES UR TEETH UP.
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Most kids grow well into their adulthood sucking their thumbs.
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Hey, I still catch my 23 year old cousin sucking her thumb while she sleep. It is a bad habit that should be broken immediately. My cousin is 23 years old and had her front 4-6 teeth pulled and replace with dentures. I sincerely believe this habit caused her teeth to develop deformed. My little girl started doing it but I quickly put a stop to it by just removing her thumb from her mouth every chance I got or putting a little of aloe vera sap on her thumbs this discourage the habit. She’s now a beautiful three year old with pearly whites to die for.
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I am 14 years old, and I still suck my thumb. I have always done it. I find it very comforting. It’s a lot better habit then smoking or drinking. I usually do it when I’m going to sleep, while I am sleeping, when I am really tired, watching a movie, and sometimes with my friends. My friends know about it, and could care less. They are very supportive of it. I would like to stop, but I don’t think I can. I think I would end up doing something worse instead of thumb sucking cause I am always tired. It’s a personal preference so I don’t know why people make suck a big deal out of it. I guess, if you can stop it, do it; but if you can’t then don’t worry about it.
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What I find the most fun is the people saying: I’m ___ , still suck my thumb & find nothing wrong w/it. Yet I do it in the privacy of my own home.
If you think there’s nothing wrong w/it, why do it in private only?
While you’re in a staff mtg, pop that thumb in.
While you’re in the middle of having sex, pop that thumb in.
While you’re in the middle of teaching a class/seminar, pop it in.
While in the middle of surgery, tell you’re surgeon it’s ok if he sucks his thumb while performing the surgery on your child.
When out to dinner w/a group of friends, pop that thumb in, take it out & pass them the peas w/same thumb; after all “germs are good for the immune system”.
Post a picture of yourself sucking your thumb on your facebook profile.
I don’t do it, my son was stopped from day 1, several of my brothers & cousins do it…I don’t care but please stop acting like its acceptable by all.
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