# Girl, 5, chews off all her fingers **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 26, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912 "2003-09-26T04:57:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/1 "2003-09-26T04:57:27Z")
[Link](http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/asia/story/0,4386,211224,00.html) with picture (not for the squirmish). I’m posting this as kind of a knee jerk reaction to the article. I don’t usually get this riled up about stuff. Honest. If that had been my daughter, I seriously would have beat the **fucking** _shit_ out of her after finding even half a finger missing. I would have warned her once. Then if I saw her eating her hand again I would have fucking dragon kicked her or something to get the lesson firmly in her mind. I mean, what the fuck was wrong with her grandparents!?! I know they couldn’t have known about the nerve damage at the beginning but when the girl chews off a goddamn **whole finger** it’s time for a little ‘tough love’. At that age people pretty much only respond to pain/pleasure stimuli anyways. You do not ‘try’ to stop someone from chewing their fingers off. Either you do or you don’t. Looks like her grandparents didn’t. Now she’s going to be handicapped for life. Yes, I’m placing the blame squarely on the grandparents. She didn’t know any better. They did. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/2 "2003-09-26T05:01:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cletus \* > **If that had been my daughter, I seriously would have beat the fucking _shit_ out of her** Do you actually mean that? Or is it a hyperbole consequent to your “kneejerk reaction”? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/3 "2003-09-26T05:01:42Z")
Dear God. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Random](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Joe\_Random](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Random)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/4 "2003-09-26T05:07:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cletus \* > If that had been my daughter, I seriously would have beat the **fucking** _shit_ out of her after finding even half a finger missing. \*\* Considering that fact that her brain and nerve endings had been damaged by a fever to the point that she could not feel pain, I kind of doubt that a physical beating would have had the desired effect. ---
**Author:** ![racinchikki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@racinchikki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racinchikki)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/5 "2003-09-26T05:09:17Z")
How the fuck do you do that in the first place? Fingers have bones and stuff, and she’s only a tiny child. Moreover, how much time do you spend completely ignoring the child for her to be able to completely chew off all ten of her fingers while your back is turned? ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/6 "2003-09-26T05:11:15Z")
It was a exaggeration but the point is the same. I would have made it know to her that chewing her fingers off was unacceptable. I would have made sure the lesson was remembered for the rest of her life. ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/7 "2003-09-26T05:15:06Z")
My above post was for **aasna**. Hijacking my own thread, I know, but the first thought I had after posting was ‘wow, four replies already?’. I guess the Pit really is the most popular forum. ---
**Author:** ![fushj00mang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@fushj00mang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fushj00mang)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/8 "2003-09-26T05:19:08Z")
Um…that’s…sad? I really, really want to choke some parent now. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/9 "2003-09-26T06:48:55Z")
> [@](#): > > How the fuck do you do that in the first place? Fingers have bones and stuff, and she’s only a tiny child. > > Moreover, how much time do you spend completely ignoring the child for her to be able to completely chew off all ten of her fingers while your back is turned? Seriously. Like, at what point did they notice something was amiss? ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/10 "2003-09-26T07:17:15Z")
I think by the point they noticed her pinkie nail segment was missing was when they should have started to panic. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/11 "2003-09-26T07:29:15Z")
Well, the only way to stop her from eating her own fucking fingers off (yes, I’m a little shocked right now) is to paint them with something she does not like the taste of. I see she lives in China, and I know that some Chinese cooking calls for serious spices. I think a good hot sauce would about do the trick. Keep painting her hands until she learns that chewing her fingers down to nothing is completely fucking crazy. What if she can’t taste? Damn. The problem gets harder, doesn’t it? Maybe if she wore gloves, it would help. Maybe all she needed was some attention and something to do. Obviously both were lacking in her home. But if the finger-gnawing urge is so strong in her mind that she will ignore the spice and remove the gloves and chew to the exclusion of all else, then physical restraint and constant attention is what she needs. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/12 "2003-09-26T07:33:23Z")
My first thought on reading the thread title was Lesch-Nyhan Disease. [http://ericec.org/faq/lesch-ny.html](http://ericec.org/faq/lesch-ny.html) ---
**Author:** ![cletus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@cletus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cletus)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/13 "2003-09-26T07:45:35Z")
Perhaps a backhand to the head and a serious bout of vertigo to circumvent the lack of pain sensors? Yes, I’m serious ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/14 "2003-09-26T08:19:29Z")
Well - it may not be possible to “train” this poor child from her behaviour. Firstly, she’s a very young child. Secondly, it appears that she’s brain damaged. Certainly, one would have expected the grandparents to seek help much earlier. But this happened in China, not the “west”. Medical set ups are very different there. She lived in a “village” - it may be her grandparents were extremely poor, and/or uneducated, and/or superstitious. Very sad. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/15 "2003-09-26T08:24:47Z")
(Cletus, you got your fly-off-the-handle reaction, now I get mine.) > [@](#): > > If that had been my daughter, I seriously would have beat the fucking shit out of her after finding even half a finger missing. I would have warned her once. Then if I saw her eating her hand again I would have fucking dragon kicked her or something to get the lesson firmly in her mind. Because beating the shit out of your kids is a totally acceptable way to teach them a lesson? :rolleyes: Jesus Fingerlicking Christ! Granted, some things were seriously wrong in this story, but do you really think beating kids is a morally acceptable, consequence-free response to a problem? Sheesh. I don’t have kids and I don’t like kids, and I know you were worked up the first time, but the above words are just fucking scary to read. A guy talking about kicking the crap out of his own kid (multiple times in this thread!) in cold blood. Wow. Just freaking wow. ---
**Author:** ![missing\_link](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@missing\_link](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missing_link)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/16 "2003-09-26T11:15:55Z")
mmmmh…finger…biscuits /probably going straight to hell for this one ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/17 "2003-09-26T11:35:06Z")
Holy fucking shit. Just when I thought I was a jaded, bitter fuck who had seen it all and could be shocked by nothing. I wonder if this girl is autistic. I used to work with autistic children (yes, the wrathful child-hating QGG did that) and they often bit and chewed at their hands and fingers. When I worked with autistic adults later on, I noticed they did the same thing. This is fucked UP. ---
**Author:** ![Liz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/liz/32/17737_2.png) [@Liz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/18 "2003-09-26T11:49:52Z")
One day, I WILL learn how to get it all in one post. Swear. **Marley** , just a question. ITA that people shouldn’t _beat_ their children (anything besides spankings is wrong, IMO), but in this case – what if Gramma & Grandpa couldn’t give her the 24/7 attention she obviously needs/needed? I know it sounds barbaric, but she could get past a swift, frightening, painful spanking to instill fear in her regarding the finger chewing…but she’ll never get her poor fingers back. ☹ Do you see at all what I’m trying to get at? Neither is good (one is downright horrid), but it’s the lesser of two evils. ---
**Author:** ![TVAA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c57346/32.png) [@TVAA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVAA)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/19 "2003-09-26T11:56:27Z")
Is this pain-insensitivity permanent? If so, devoting more care and attention to this girl is probably a waste of resources. Such people almost always die before or soon after maturity – without the ability to sense injury, even seemingly trivial damage can quickly become life-threatening. If the girl is also retarded, she’ll have virtually no defense against injury, as she won’t be able to use caution and self-awareness to prevent and identify injury. Considering that this is in a relatively poor area of China… the costs associated with keeping her alive are prohibitive. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2003, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912/20 "2003-09-26T12:21:05Z")
Ladyfingers! They taste just like ladyfingers!! “This is a RedLine Express train Direct to Hell. Doors open underneath you at Hell.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/girl-5-chews-off-all-her-fingers/203912.md?page=2)