Dentures

My sweet baby niece enjoys a nibble on her thumb now and then. My sister has been able to deter the thumb habit with her two other children but not with Briella.
We know all about thumb sucking in our house. Jackson was born with that thumb permanently inserted in his mouth. He took it everywhere with him. I knew that I couldn't get him to stop his nasty habit on my own. Getting him to quit the thumb was a village effort.
One afternoon we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Hardy. Jackson found Grandma's dentures and as any curious boy would do, picked them up and brought them over to Grandma Hardy. He politely asked her what they are. (This was the moment that I have since thanked Grandma for.) Grandma pulled out her other set of dentures and showed Jackson her bare gums. She explained that because she didn't take care of her teeth, they fell out. She got dentures to replace her teeth.
A few days later something clicked in his mind. Jackson came up to me and explained that if he sucked his thumb any longer, he would lose his teeth. I asked him what would happen after his teeth fell out. "I would have to go to the doctor and get dentures." About a week later we had a tough night getting Jackson to bed. He was pretty upset. After I was able to get him to calm down, I asked him what he wanted. In all of his sweet little boyness he sadly stated that "I just want to suck 'somefin'." Hallelujah!! Jackson knew that he could no longer suck his thumb and needed to find another way to comfort him.
Now, this method may not work for my sweet little niece, but boy howdy, it worked for us!