Suck Away

Being a parent has opened my world to a dizzying amount of input. One seemingly major issue is the pacifier. I first noticed it with a co-worker’s baby, someone asking “You aren’t going to use a pacifier are you?” I thought they had to be joking. Like they were saying, “You aren’t going to use a rusted-out-dagger to get that booger, are you?”

Our baby didn’t take to daggers, or pacifiers. So he is sucking his thumb. Parents gasp and look at me, tattling and pointing “He is sucking his thumb!” As if he just stole their ID or motorcycle. “Yeah, I know. Next week are going to start him on unfiltered Camels.”

Being a former thumb sucker, I don’t get the big deal. Are you supposed to be a non-sucker, or a finger-sucker, a penny-sucker? It isn’t illegal or costly. He enjoys it and no harm is being done to the environment or the stock market.

I remember my parents trying to wean me off the thumb and the blanket with extreme rigidity. I just wonder what harm I was causing. Did I look weak? Was it an embarrassment? Did they worry I would fall the wrong crowd? If that is the worst habit for stress management that you end up with, then I say suck away.