How do I help my son break the habit?

[Gailmegan]

Just last week my 6 yo son started putting the tip of his pencil in his mouth in between problems/questions on his school work. I keep reminding him to take it out of his mouth, or gently reaching over and touching his hand to pull it away from his mouth. But he gets annoyed that I am distracting him from thinking about his work. He says he can't think if he doesn't put the pencil in his mouth. Any suggestions?

TIA!

[Pam "SFSOM" in TN]

Just last week my 6 yo son started putting the tip of his pencil in his mouth in between problems/questions on his school work. I keep reminding him to take it out of his mouth, or gently reaching over and touching his hand to pull it away from his mouth. But he gets annoyed that I am distracting him from thinking about his work. He says he can't think if he doesn't put the pencil in his mouth. Any suggestions?

TIA!

Gum.

Bribe him. Reward with a gold star if he can think for one whole page without putting the pencil tip in his mouth. Or one whole row. An m&m per row. You just need to interrupt the habit.

[Kelli in TN]

When you figure it let us know. I put everything in my mouth and I chew my nails. I would like to stop these things, but since I am in my 40's now I doubt I ever will.

[Whisperlily]

Gum.

Bribe him. Reward with a gold star if he can think for one whole page without putting the pencil tip in his mouth. Or one whole row. An m&m per row. You just need to interrupt the habit.

:iagree: Gum keeps his mouth busy. :)

[Claire]

How about that bitter stuff they put on pacifiers to break a pacie habit?

[HomeOnTheRanch]

Can you tape a big, fake flower to the pencil? I've seen them do that with pens in stores so people don't accidentally walk off with them.

Of course you would have to use a separate eraser, but it probably wouldn't take long to break the habit.

[finding_sanctuary]

Gum might work. It's how I broke the pencil-chewing habit, and chewing my nails, too (several times...dang stress habits...)

The bitter stuff might work, but it might not. We tried that on DSS when he couldn't stop chewing his pencils...no luck. I think he liked the taste. :glare: Pepper oil didn't work, either.

I like the fake flower idea most. Make it something big, maybe scratchy, too, so he can't/won't want to put it in his mouth.

Also...since the pencil tip in the mouth is the issue, could you find another habit that isn't a problem and redirect? I have to be touching (or chewing on) something while I think or I get really, really fidgety and can't concentrate. My dss and ds are the same way. Maybe your ds just needs some sort of tactile outlet?

[Tammy]

There is hope.....I stopped biting my nails when I was around 40ish! I stopped when I saw a picture of my hands......YUCK....they looked awful!

Good luck!

[Gailmegan]

I don't know why I didn't think of gum. I always used to chew it when I needed to concentrate, and he is ADHD like his momma. LOL. the flower sounds like fun too.