I can not see any valid reason for a child who is able to walk and talk, to suck a dummy - especially while out shopping ect. Do you allow your kids to do this and if so, why?
2007-11-30 06:16:57 · 27 answers · asked by Siamese Triplets 5 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Toddler & Preschooler
A DUMMY is what you Americans refer to as a PACIFIER.
HERE IN THE UK WE CALL THEM "DUMMIES"
It is an acceptable term.
2007-11-30 06:23:54 · update #1
I try not to judge other parents with the decisions they make...especially when it comes to something as trivial as a pacifier.
I took my daughter's pacifier when she was 8 months old....but that was my decision. Other parents feel differently and they do what they think is right. It's not up to me to judge them.
2007-11-30 06:20:33 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Sometimes it just happens that way. we dont intend it to happen like that.
Then one day the parent throws a total spaz and chops all the rubber bits out of the dummies and the child goes cold turkey and is absolutely fine. Yes - Im a bad parent. I did that.
The reason I let her have the dummy for so long (only at home though) was that my marriage broke up and she was so insecure and loved a hug with mum and her dummy. Then one day she threw a total tantrum about not being allowed to have new dummies. Thats when I reacted by chopping them up. I felt very contrite afterward, but do you know what? she was fine. She knew she had been a total wee tart that day and she just got on with it. Not a whimper afterward. Maybe I shouldve just been firmer earlier. There you go - overkill of information for you! enjoy!
2007-11-30 14:22:50 · answer #2 · answered by ? 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have 4 kids, now ages 28, 26, 23, and 10. At our house we call pacifiers "passys". Anyone who suggests that a parent with an older child using a pacifier is "lazy" or "stupid" obviously isn't the parent of a child who loves their pacifier. I am not lazy - I have been a successful and sought-after child care provider in my home for 20 years. I am not stupid - I have a bachelor's degree in early elementary education. In my younger, opinionated, very naive, pre-child days, I, too, thought an older child with a pacifier was just horrendous. Then...I had our first child who became quite enamored with her pacifier. Before I knew it, she was 2 1/2 and still had it. Neither our doctor nor our dentist said it mattered if she had it so as long as it wasn't in her mouth 24/7 not to worry so much about it. She slept if she had it and if she slept, we slept, too. That child is now 28 years old, a married woman for 5 years and a mom herself to our 7 1/2 month old grandson. She's been a teacher for 5 years and never needed any type of dental work. While we didn't usually allow her to take the pacifier with her in public, she did use it until she was 2 1/2. One day we were packing to go away for the weekend and we couldn't find even one pacifier. We just said there weren't any to take with us and she was fine with that. Our middle daughter sucked her thumb - that was harder to control since we could never just leave it home or take it away. Our youngest daughter also had a pacifier until she was 5, but by the time she was 3, the only place she was allowed to have it was in her bed. Pacifier use for older children is just a habit not unlike the adult who has to have their coffee first thing in the morning or a cigarette after meals. There are a lot of important issues in the world today and whether a child uses a pacifier until they are 5 just isn't that important in the grand scheme of life. I've never seen anyone get their high school diploma with a pacifier in their mouth so all kids outgrow it eventually. Oddly, the only one of my 4 children who needed braces was the one who never sucked a pacifier or his thumb.
2007-11-30 14:59:40 · answer #3 · answered by sevenofus 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
You never know if a child you see around town has disabilities that might not be obvious to you.
Children with hidden disabilities like autism often have oral motor sensory complications and some of them use pacifiers or other types of oral stim to stay comfortable in stressful situations, like being in public, and to keep them from doing more destructive things like sucking on their hands or clothes.
It's not fair to judge other families when you might not know their situation. I'm not saying there aren't parents who give their older kids pacifiers just because they are LAZY- but you never know when that's the case or if there is something else going on.
2007-11-30 15:45:03 · answer #4 · answered by mommy 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I was laughing at all the people who were like"what's that" haha. Anyway, I don't see a reason either my cousin's baby has a dummy, a animal and blanket to take everywhere, now that's a load of crap, literally, I babysit this kid and it drives me nuts that she carries this stuff with her everywhere. Some people indulge there kids to extremes.
2007-11-30 14:35:06 · answer #5 · answered by liv t 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
This is one of those things that really bothers me as well.
It is their family so it is none of my business but...
This and other things parents are not willing to be the adult on really kill me. The paccy (dummy) is great for babies (Babies can not tell you to given them the paccy) but as the child gets older it needs to go.
Kids like them because it is comforting. Give them something else to be comforted by. You can not understand them with those things in their mouth!
It just takes some time and willingness to stand fast on the decision to get rid of it.
You make the child get rid of the bottle and use a fork and knife one day, oh and force them to learn to use the potty, why does the paccy not fall into this same category.
Geeze just do it! The kid will be fine!
2007-11-30 14:24:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
Because they can afford the 10's of thousands of dollars in orthodontic and psychological restructuring that the child is going to need.
Seriously...because they are either too lazy or stupid to break the child of the habit?
A parent who allows a child much beyond 2 to suck on a pacifier is a parent whom is going to have massive problems with controlling the child, since it will already have an ingrained sense that what it wants is what it gets, and mommy and daddy be darned...in short, THEY are going to be running Mommy & Daddy, not the other way around. Heaven help the rest of us when said child turns 18!
2007-11-30 14:23:31 · answer #7 · answered by jcurrieii 7 · 2⤊ 3⤋
No, it's too old, you're right, but there are worse habits, and it doesn't hurt anything in the long run. No man's ever walked down the aisle with a pacifier! :)
I think the moms just want them to be happy and baby them a little more than other moms.
2007-11-30 14:20:05 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because they are the parent and it is up to them not you. My son is almost 2 and he still has a pacifier. It makes him feel better so why not. I'm his mom and when you have a child you can decide what to do concerning your child.
BTW My 10 year old had a pacifier until he was 3. He has perfect teeth, he is a straight A student and is doing great. I am not lazy and I take great care of my kids. It is nobody's business what I feel is best for my children.
2007-11-30 14:20:43 · answer #9 · answered by sweetbeesma 5 · 1⤊ 3⤋
the people that allow their kids to walk around with dummies are just to lazy or ignorant to realize what they are doing to their child
these people probably also give in everytime their child wants something cause they just dont want to deal with the screaming and bust their kids butts
2007-11-30 14:52:49 · answer #10 · answered by squeaker 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋