How far should a day care go with telling toddlers what to do?

[NightRabbit]

@MLS

As another mom, I disagree. You can bank on the fact that she will not be sucking her thumb when she graduates from high school. In my experience, soon enough they are busy with other things and forget about it unless they are tired, sick, etc. , in which case a little extra comfort doesn’t kill anyone. I’ve seen cases in which the parent proudly announced that they had successfully gotten the child to stop sucking her thumb, only to add, “Now, if only I could get her out of biting her nails…” My mom told a story about a gentleman on a train who took it upon himself to tell my older sister, who was about 2 at the time, to stop sucking her thumb. Mom said “It’s her thumb and she can suck on it if she wants to,” and stared pointedly at the huge cigar he was chomping on.

I didn’t suck my thumb until high school, and my teeth still stick out from it because my parents let me be and I continued until 7 or so.

BREAK YOUR KID OF THE HABIT NOW before his/her teeth become misaligned from it!