Sometimes kids do it unconsciously. Simply because their pens “didn’t wake up”. What to do with this, says the child psychologist.
The fact that a child under the age of one year keeps a fist in his mouth, as a rule, does not cause any concern for parents. That’s right: in the first year of a person’s life, this is one of the ways of knowing this vast world. There is another opinion: in this way, the child either scratches his gums during teething, or simply calms down, like on his mother’s breast.
But what if a kid of 3-4 years old pulls a finger in his mouth? This is a reason for the mother to take a closer look at the child.
Usually, fingers are in the mouth while the child is watching TV or doing something else that occupies the eyes, head, but not hands.
– You need to help the baby, teach him how to feel. At this age, it is difficult for him to understand why this should not be done, therefore, sharp twitching of the mother or threats, or completely inhumane ways (some parents, for example, still smear the child’s fingers with mustard) will only aggravate the situation.
In an amicable way, the hands of the child need to be occupied with something. There are several ways.
- Ideally – sculpting: you can sculpt from wax, in summer – from clay. Natural materials are more interesting to the touch, will give a large palette of feelings to a child playing with them.
- Help mom knead the dough.
- Dad – to clean shoes, while letting the baby get dirty in the cream, and then wash off his wasps of fingers in the sink with soap.
- Let him wash the dishes with you with a sponge.
- Breaking walnuts for the cake.
- In winter, decorate the Christmas tree by touching, feeling with your fingers different surfaces – Christmas tree decorations, garlands.
It is worth distinguishing between feeling and fine motor skills. The motor skills can be excellent, and the fingers are not “awakened”, are not realized by the child – in fact, that’s why they suddenly, “not on purpose” appear in the mouth.
There is a good exercise game for this age of kids in this case.
1. Take the child’s pen, put it on a flat surface and cover it with a handkerchief. They hid the pen.
2. With our hand under the handkerchief we touch one finger of the child, remove the handkerchief and ask: “Which finger just greeted mine?” The child shows which one.
3. Continue choosing different fingers.
You can play this way everywhere: at home, in transport, in line at the clinic … If you do it regularly, you will kill another hare: when your child learns to write, he will do it beautifully and without missing letters in words!