Ditch the dummy

I had a little girl come and stay with me. She was 3 at the time and still very much addicted to her dummy, sucking on it during the day, all day actually. Up the street when shopping, at the playground, kinder etc.

Her parents couldn't get her to stop using her dummy but then they had difficulty doing a great many things for their little girl and no one to help them with their ordeals. And also suffering from a little bit of parental laziness. 

They had talked to me about their dilemma in getting their daughter to ditch the dummy and I had given advice which they promptly put in the too hard basket. They mentioned hoping I'd have some luck getting her ditch the dummy when they dropped her off for the weekend.

Soon after this little girl came to stay with me we lost the dummy. She spent a good part of the day trying to find it, trying to remember when she saw it last. I helped her look as well, pretending I didn't know where it was.

I thought she'd be upset, crying her eyes out, but she just got on with her time with us. We played inside, went for walks, went to the park, cooked and ate and generally had a good time.

By the time her parents came back to pick her up she had all but forgotten about the dummy. I talked to the mum about how we lost the dummy and how the little girl was fine without it. Thinking I'd done her a nice favour. The mum had said she wanted the dummy gone but didn't know how to do it.

A couple of days later I find out she had her dummy again, wouldn't give it up and the parents couldn't get her to stop using it again.

Sometimes parents create battles for themselves with their children. Sometimes they create battles where there need not be any. They think giving in to every whim makes their lives easier or their child happier. They think taking the lazy, I can't be bothered, way out makes their battle less troublesome. That is far from the truth.