A place for me to pour out my rants without clogging the inboxes of my friends and family. Also a place to give info on myself and Mary, our family news and events.
If there's one thing that alarms me more than seeing little kids running wild, unattended or unable to be controlled by the parents, it is children over two years old still using a binky.

The other day, I was in line at the grocery store, and there was a woman ahead of me, conversing openly with her daughter, seated in the basket's kiddie seat, legs dangling almost to her mother's knees. The child was using a binky. Now, I'm no pediatrician or child care specialist (I'm just a parent..heh heh), but it seems to me that, if the kid is old enough to be talking, in complete sentences especially, around the binky, he/she is too old for the binky.

I was at a restaurant one evening some years ago, and saw a not-so-little girl (maybe about 5 or 6, school-age, at least) with TWO binkies in her mouth. Her teeth were terribly mal-formed, having no doubt come in around the pacifier(s) as they were cut. I can only imagine what her family dentist or orthodontist would have say about this.

Now, this is entirely an uneducated guess, but could it be that this could cause some sort of oral fixation in adolescence or adulthood(.......which could be a good thing for future boyfriends/girlfriends, I suppose), if the pacifier is not disposed of at a reasonable time ?

It can't be good for you.

Comments
on Nov 01, 2004
I agree. We have been fortunate in that our first duaghter stopped taking hers at 9 months, and our second never did take one. But we decided that between 12-18 months is the absolute latest time to ween them. At least that is the plan with the next one.
on Nov 01, 2004
between 12-18 months is the absolute latest time to ween them


Bluedev:

That seems about right. My son just gave his up one day, and if memory serves, that's about how old he was then. God, that was a long time ago.++ I'm getting so OLD.

Thanks for the input.
on Nov 01, 2004
I can't stand seeing older kids with binkies, it just kinda makes me kringe. My twin daughters had their binkie use "restricted" to in their cribs only when they started crawling, and taken away completely about a month after the bottle made its disappearance at 12 months. My other daugter used her bottle for an extra weeks or so but that was because she had MRSA and was in the hospital so sippies were too difficult to use. My son is 6 months old and never used one. There is even a web site now that will help you child send his binkie to "binkie heaven" and even send you a certificate saying so.

I can't imagine that some parents would just let their kids keep a binkie (or two) that long, it's just gross, and IMO, rather immature of the parent, the longer they have it, the longer it will take to get rid of it. Imagine a sleep over in 3rd grade or so..
on Nov 01, 2004
msladydeath:

I'm glad that there are others out there like me.
I think it's not only immature of the parent, but it's also lazy or shows lack of patience. The only reason, it seems to me, that they let the kid keep the binky is that the kid would probably have a screaming fit if they took it away. They just don't wnat to deal with the hassle.

Thank you, too.