Nose-picking is disgusting! But the reality is that everyone’s done it some point during their childhood. And some adults still do it – the ones who haven’t been stopped of course. Here are five things that you should be doing if you want to stop your kids from trying to find gold up their noses.
Pull Your Child’s Finger Out
Use caution and pull your child’s finger out of their nose especially if they are younger. You might want to be careful with the angle at which you pull your kid’s hand. Nose-picking is potentially dangerous and can cause some serious nosebleeds, and if you pull their hand too hard or wrong you just might end up making the situation worse. But bear in mind, this might only make them stop when they’re in front of you.
Try to Scare Them
But the point is, it still worked. Scare tactics often work on kids; you don’t want them to do something, just scare them. So if you don’t want you kids to pick their nose, tell them that poking their finger up the damp tunnel will pull their brain out and that they would have to live the rest of their life like a vegetable – not the ones useful for the family of course. Or just tone it down a bit and say that the ‘nose-monster’ would eat up their entire hand.
Make Fun of Them
While toddlers are immune to embarrassment, your slightly older ones and teens, and trust me, this works like a beauty! So if you see them picking their nose in public, shout out a ‘gross’ or an ‘eww’ followed by some fake gagging and choking, and before you know it, their fingers will be out and they’ll pretend as if it wasn’t them – mission accomplished.
Teach Them the Purpose of a Tissue
If the words and pulling their finger out of their nose don’t seem to be having any impact on preventing your kids from picking their noses, then it’s time that you introduce them to the face their long lost best friend – the tissue. Sometimes being discreet about the mater can be just as effective as otherwise. There are of course many fun ways to use tissue for your kid’s birthday party, but it’s hygiene purpose is obviously more functional. Each time you see your kids picking their nose, hand them a tissue. If they don’t get the hint, add a one-liner such as ‘blow your nose’ or ‘clean it up.’ This is a rather difficult task to manage because you can’t possibly be running around with box of tissue in your hand every time and everywhere. But if it helps, just make sure that you have an abundance of them around your home.
Model Good Behavior in Front of Your Child
Of course, your kids learn from you. If you want them to stop putting their fingers up their nostrils, stop doing it yourself. Use tissue to blow your nose, stop your partner from doing it, doubt scaring will work on adults, and just be careful before you apply the mocking tactic – things could get awkward after that depending on how far you go.
Try these five ways to get your child to stop picking their nose. Not only is it disgusting but it can cause long term problems such as nose bleeds. Hopefully these tips will help your child remember that they should use a tissue the next time they need to “pick” their nose.
Photo Credit: Flickr via Creative Commons
Does your child pick their nose? What did you do to stop this behavior?
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