Do Your Children Chew on Their Clothes?

We all may have some type of habit. Some children may suck their fingers while others might bite their fingernails. What do you do when your children have developed the habit of chewing on their clothes?

Kids chewing on clothes

There is a reason why kids are chewing on their clothes. It is important for parents to find out why and then give children other healthier alternatives.

Reasons

A few reasons according to Dr. Rene at parentingbydrrene.com are possibly some children need more oral stimulation, more physical movement, or it may calm children from negative emotions. She further suggests having your children practice deep breathing or counting backwards. As a child my biggest habit was biting my fingernails. I also had one child that sucked her finger. She came home from school one day and told me the other children were teasing her. She wanted me to put hot sauce on her finger so that she would stop sucking her finger. I also had another child that would carry a small blanket around with her around the house as a toddler. Looking back on this, I now see how this blanket was comforting to her. This is a new one for me to see children chewing on their clothes.

Sensory Seeking

According to Carina at kidzworld.com children that chew on their clothes or pencils are adding extra feedback to the sensory system to get to a level for them to calm down and be alert with little effort; sensory children crave physical activity. She further suggests activities such as riding a bike, running,swimming, carrying a shopping bag from the car to the house, and for older children chewing gum, preferably sugar-free. These are a few very simple techniques. I have always made sure that I took my children and my grandchildren to parks and areas where they could run, jump, and ride their bikes often. Since this is a computer age, I definitely limit the amount of computer time while encouraging outdoor time with various activities. I have observed the difference in them for the good.

 

Reaction

Have you ever considered your reaction to your children when you discovered them chewing on their shirts? Did you react negatively by showing anger or pulling their clothing from their mouth? According to everydaylifeglobalpost.com, negative reactions can reinforce negative behaviors. They further add instead of responding negatively, try redirecting children by observing when the chewing is occurring. Possibly that is the time children may need to chew gum or just run and jump. I was so happy when Michelle Obama started the “Let's Move Program” in the schools. I believe it makes all the difference for children.

Source:

Child Chewing on Clothes, By Dr. Rene Hackney

Does Your Child Chew on Her Clothes andPencils?,by Carina Taylor

Shirt-Biting Behavioral Problems inAutistic Children, by Suzanne Robin

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Photo Caption:  Commons, Wikimedia.org, Vector Image, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

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