“A habit is a strong behavior pattern that is repeated over and
over again,” says Tim Wysocki, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist. "The
child displaying the behavior usually lacks awareness of the “habit”. Although
children may be blissfully unaware of their behavior, their parents are not so
lucky.
What
Causes a Habit?
Experts admit that they're not always sure what causes a habit,
but that it is a learned behavior that usually provides a positive outcome for
the child.
If wet fingers on your child and little slivers of fingernails on
the floor are familiar to you, you are not alone. One of the most common
childhood habits is nail biting or picking at the fingernails.
Some studies estimate that 40% of children between the ages
of 5 and 18 chew on one or more nails; occasionally a child also may bite
his toenails. Both boys and girls appear equally prone to the habit in earlier
years; however, as they get older, boys are more likely to be nail biters.
If the child is a hair-twirler, the odds are that it is your
daughter. The majority of children who twist, stroke, or pull their hair are
girls. Hair twirling may appear in early childhood and last until your daughter
is an adolescent. In some girls, the behavior may appear at adolescence.
Nose picking appears to be a habit that, although it usually
begins in childhood, may actually linger into adulthood. If you find that hard
to believe, a 1995 study of adults found that 91% picked their noses on a
regular basis.
The popularity of the thumb as the preferred digit to suck might
suggest that it is more flavorful than, say, the index finger. But the
preference for thumbs appears to be an accidental choice, resulting from the
thumb coming into contact with the mouth as a consequence of random movements
made by an infant.
Some children also suck their fingers or their entire fists in
addition to, or instead of, their thumbs. Most thumb suckers are younger
children. In fact, approximately 45% of 2-year-olds suck their thumbs. The good
news is that only 5% of 11-year-olds do.
When Shirley Temple used to threaten to "hold my breath till
I turn blue" in order to get her way, movie audiences laughed. But, if
your 2-year old tries the same thing, it can be a frightening experience. This
common behavior is more alarming to parents than dangerous for the child.
Breath holding may begin in infants as young as 6 months old
and tends to occur in tense and overly active children. In some cases, the
child may hold his breath so long that he passes out. Rarely, breath holding
may precipitate a seizure. Most commonly, breath holding occurs about once a
week, although in some children it can happen several times a day.
Development
of a habit
Habits may develop as entertainment for a bored child or, more
commonly, as a coping mechanism to soothe an anxious one. The next time you see
your child biting her nails or twirling her hair, try to recall if she has
recently had a stressful experience.
The child may be trying to relieve her tension just as you would
by having a cocktail or working out at the gym. Or perhaps the explanation for
the child's nail biting is in your mirror. Do you bite your nails? Studies
suggest that nail biting may have a strong familial or genetic component.
Other habits may be remnants of infancy. In infants, thumb sucking
is a common self-comfort behavior that has pleasurable associations with
feedings and cessation of hunger.
The behavior may linger into childhood because of its positive
associations. Hair twirling, too, may be an attempt by a child to regain the
feelings associated with close contact with his mother's body or clothes.
Still other children will engage in habits to attract attention or
as an attempt to manipulate their parents. If the child feels that you are
ignoring him, he may engage in the annoying habitual behavior because he knows
that it will provoke a reaction from you.
A child who does not want to go to bed early may holds his breath
to frighten his parents into allowing him to stay up longer. This is a learned
behavior that may signal a child who is trying to gain control of his
environment. Breath holding is said to be more likely to occur if parents are
overprotective or insistent upon rigid schedules.
Coping
with the Child's Habit
"The good news is that most habits disappear," says D'Arcy
Lyness, Ph.D., a pediatric psychologist.
"They drive some parents crazy, while others are more
tolerant. In many cases, if a parent ignores a habit, the behavior will
eventually stop because the child no longer needs it or the child has outgrown
it." Many habits, in fact, do disappear when a child reaches school age.
Calmly point out what you don't like about the behavior and why.
This approach can be used with children as young as 3.
For example: For breath holding, the best response is to ignore it.
Responding to the episode will only serve as a positive reinforcement of the
behavior. If necessary, walk out of the room. Even if the child passes out, he
will not be harmed, and he will realize that he is not gaining any extra
attention for exhibiting the behavior. Parents may benefit from therapy to help
the child develop frustration tolerance and to enhance their awareness of the
difference between permissiveness and limits on behavior.
Because habits take time to develop, they may take time (perhaps 3
weeks or more) to be replaced by alternative behavior, so be patient.
Also remember to be consistent in rewarding good behavior. If you
fail to notice good behavior, it will disappear through time. The new, positive
habit must be firmly established before the old one will disappear.
When to
Worry
In rare instances, a habit is no longer just a habit, but may be
the result or the cause of a physical or psychological problem.
A habit may be a symptom of a more serious condition. For example,
a child who picks his nose may be uncomfortable because he has stuck an object
in his nose or the dried blood from a nosebleed is making his nose pinch and
itch. A child who constantly sucks his thumb might be experiencing severe,
debilitating anxiety.
Although habits are usually benign, one that escalates to the
point where it causes bodily injury or damage to the child is no longer just a
habit.
Hair twirling in and of itself is not dangerous, but if the child
daughter begins pulling out her hair in patches, it might be trichotillomania,
a more serious condition. If your child bites his nails to the quick, he may
develop infections, whereas children who repeatedly suck their thumbs may
develop dental problems, such as malocclusion (crooked teeth), when they get
older. Your little boy may pick his nose so frequently that he experiences nose
bleeds.
Habits that occur with such frequency that they impair a child's
social relationships or interfere with his daily functioning are obsessive
behaviors, such as those seen in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
"When a person imposes some control over an obsessive behavior, he begins
to feel increasing anxiety until he displays the behavior again," says Dr.
Wysocki. If your child is the subject of teasing at school or has difficulty
talking because he will not take his thumb out of his mouth, the behavior has
progressed beyond a simple habit.
These are
stereotyped disorders which are intentionally and repetitively produced but
serve no constructive or socially acceptable function.
The common
habit disorders include thumb sucking, nail biting, pulling out of hair
(trichotillomania), head banging, masturbation, teeth grinding, picking of
nose, biting parts of the body, skin-scratching, body rocking, breadth-holding,
thumb/finger sucking, stammering, bed-wetting, soiling, etc.
These
habits range from normal to abnormal, depending on the severity of occurrence
and the time of presentation during the development period (what is normal in
infancy, may be abnormal in later childhood).
Many of the
habit disorders, particularly those which are self-stimulating in nature, are
called as gratification habits and are considered by some as masturbatory
equivalents. Also, these habit disorders tend to be commoner in mentally
retarded individuals.
Habit
disorders again overlap in that they may be linked to behavior or emotional
difficulties. They include:
Speech defects- stammering, stuttering.
Sleep difficulties- night mares, sleep-walking,
sleeplessness.
Excretion- incontinence of bladder
or bowels.
Nervous pains or
paralysis- headaches, stomachaches, pains in arms and legs
Uncontrolled movements- nervous tics and
twitches, head banging, persistent rocking, savage nail biting.
Feeding- excessive faddiness,
indiscriminate eating, nervous vomiting.
Physical problems- asthma, allergies.
DR. SUMIT GOEL M.D. (Hom)
DR. AMITA AGARWAL BHMS