Just had this email sent to me from an old friend which could be interesting to many of my readers:
Q: I have kids between the ags of 1-5 and everyone of them sticks stuff in there mouth. I understand the one and 2 year olds, but getting towards the 3 and 5 year olds it drives me crazy. I’ve never had so many kids mouth objects as this year. Here’s the real frustrating
one. I have a almost five year old that has almost been here a year and he always chews on the hems of his shirt. He know has everyone but my son doing i. Drives me nuts. One girl has wrecked a couple of her shirts cuz she chews on it and pulls it from her teeth. What do I do to get rid of this learned behavior?
A: I have been having problems with the sucking and chewing on toys and have given up trying to sanitize them because there is no point as the germs are shared equally every hour anyways.
But in light of the amount of toy recalls I have decided to simply put my foot down and say no! Toys do not go in your mouth. My group is 14m, 15m, 16m, 19m and almost 3 years. Only the 3 year old has mastered the rule so far. One thing I had been doing was limiting those children that chewed stuff to only play with certain baby toys in the sense of the ones easily washed. But we are at a crossroads because especially the 16m and 19m should
be playing with much more involved items, getting into the books, dolls, puppets, pretend and the feltboarad, pocketchart, etc. There is no way I am letting them loose on these items till the sucking and consequent drooling and soggy hands stops.
I have just been letting them have a few of the other toys and if they go to put it in their mouth just repeat “toys do not go in your mouth”. If they do not comply after a couple repeats just take the toy away from them on the third repeat. They then are left there standning stunned and toyless as it happens so quickly. I do find the ones I have had to speak to and remove a toy from are more likely to cooperate the first time I have to remind them about another toy headed to the mouth so there is progress being made.
1 response so far ↓
1 Heather // Oct 24, 2007 at 2:41 am
My six-year-old used to suck on his shirt and make holes around the neckline. He still does from time to time. I think your approach is a sensible one, but I would supplement it with an addition: give them something they *can* suck on. In my case, we found some child-safe “chew toys” (one for each child), and they were told that this was the toy they could put in their mouths.
When I found them with things in their mouths, the offending item was removed and they were handed their “chew toy.” They really liked this, and after a while began looking for their “chew toys” when they felt the urge to put something in their mouths.
I really don’t believe children outgrow the natural impulse to chew and suck just because they outgrow infancy. After all, even adults find endless things to put in their mouths, from chewing gum to tobacco products. So in addition to teaching the children what *not* to put in their mouths, I think it’s really helpful to teach them that some things *are* okay to chew on.
Just make sure that the “chew toy” you select is safe (no lead, dangerous plastics, etc.), and that it is satisfying–my children prefer something with a rubbery texture, but even knotted up fabric (made from sewing scraps or old cut-up clothing) can be quite satisfying and cheap (though slightly harder to clean). Another advantage of knotted fabric is that it’s easy to attach to the child’s clothing or as part of a piece of “jewelry” that they can always have close by. Do be sure to un-knot it and wash regularly though, to prevent a build-up of bacteria and general ickiness.
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