I Have Thumbsuckers

     Scratch that, I have ONE thumbsucker.  Yay!  And, yes I said it.  I have a thumbsucker.  We are not proud of the fact that our kid(s) suck their thumbs, but we do know that it is their way of comforting and soothing themselves.  We tried to help Mikayla stop when she was younger, but it was like the doctors said that she will stop when she is ready.  Although I have to disagree about the motiviation.  They said she would stop because her classmates would be teasing her, in reality a little bit of bribery is what finally did the trick.  We had tried the Thum but she seemed unaffected by it.  We also tried tabasco sauce and vinegar (never large amounts), but they had the same effect.  Finally when Mikayla's teacher mentioned that she might be excluded from some school activities, we set out to find another way to help her to stop.  We had used band-aids before, but this time it seemed to really help.  In agreement with her teacher, I put a baggy in her backpack and whenever she felt the need to change them she could just go and grab one.   In the end though what really got her to stop was a little bribery with her Julie doll (the American girl).  She had been eyeing some pajamas in the catalogue and Mike said that she could earn them by not sucking her thumb.  It took about three weeks but she finally got there and now she has the pajamas.  Never doubt the power of bribery, but just make sure you are using the right thing.  We had tried using a doll house, but for some reason that did not work.  The pajamas just had the right motivation.  And after a few years of talking about getting a doll house when she quits sucking her thumb, guess what will be under our Christmas tree this year?  Now if only we could get the little one to stop...We will be starting this adventure just after his third birthday.  Hopefully it will be easier.