Parenting Lesson #34

As much as I like to think I'm the end all be all when it comes to parenting, I must admit that in reality, I'm kind of a poor parent. My almost two and a half year old still takes a binky at night time. I know, I know! It's kind of terrible and pretty much a failure on my part as a mother. I had one child who never took a binky. I never gave her one, she never realized she needed one. She never had one. And then, I had a child who had problems sleeping through the night. With #1, I prided myself on how well she slept, how well she ate, how well she did everything. With #2, I realize that #1 was a fluke. Some kids are just nice, complacent kids. Others have minds of their own from day 1.

So here we are 30 months later, and he still has a binky. I recently read that a good way to get rid of the habit was to cut pieces off the sucky part until there's nothing left: it's just the plastic piece with the handle. And if he needs the lovey, he has it for comfort, but no more ruining his teeth with the sucky part. We thought we'd try it out last night. He was in kind of a crummy mood all night, and usually, his solace comes in the form of laying nicely with his eyes closed so he can have his binky. So that's where we were. Him screaming and so sad, but bucking up long enough to lie down in his bed, close his eyes, and open his mouth, ready for the sweet comfort of his binky. He got it, gave two sucks, popped it out and said, "It not working!"

More tears and anguish followed. "It not working, mama! It not working! It's broken! I tell daddy..."He hopped out of bed to show Ben. "It's broken, daddy! It not working!" Ben suggested that he throw it away. Bubba agreed, walked straight to the trash can, and threw it in. Unfortunately, that did nothing to calm him down. Even worse, he knew we had one more binky in the house. So he asked for it. And you know what? He got it.

Have I turned into one of those parents who'll do anything to get her kid to stop crying? Sometimes. But I'll take comfort in the fact that we've gone from a household of 7 binkies to a household of 1. And soon, I'll be clipping the end off that one, too.