The Nail Biter

When Gabbi was little and learning how to use the potty, we often used painting her nails as a distraction to have her wait.  It was great.  She grew to love her nails painted.  We would paint our fingernails and toenails.  I loved having her pick colors at the store and now out of our stock pile of colors.

Then she developed this nasty habit of biting her nails.  It drives me crazy!!  I know there are worse things she could do, but come on!  She saw it as her nightly duty to scrape all of her pretty polish with her teeth.  Then there are the hang nails.  Uggg.  She would tell me that she would try really hard to not chew on them, but every morning there were just these little scraps of nails.  Where did she get this?  I have my theories, but will not know for sure.  I know that I don't bite my nails, nor does her dad.  So who knows.  I asked her one day when/why she did it.  She said she did it when she would lay down for her naps and night time.  And she said it was because I wasn't looking.  Granted she may be the smartest kid I know, but this also told me she knew she wasn't suppose to chew on her nails.

One day after she had gotten ready for bed I noticed her toe nails were also looking shaggy and it occurred to me that we hadn't done a pedicure in awhile.  I asked her if she bit them, "Yep" said with pride.  I asked her how.  "I bend my leg."  Well, that makes perfect sense.

So it is now our daily job to work on not biting her nails.  It has only been a week and I am so very proud of her.  Many folks suggested the gross tasting polish for her.  But every where I looked didn't have it, plus I wanted her to learn by doing, not by conditioning.

Then we came across the Berenstain Bear's book, Bad Habits.  It was about how Sister Bear chewed on her nails.  Part of her plan was to tape her fingertips to remind her not to bite them.  Gabbi liked this idea so we tried it.  She was excited to help me buy tape at the store and liked our new ritual of putting it on.  She played with them at first, but she ended up doing great.

Even after two nights of tape and no chewing, we saw nail growth.  Gabbi was so proud of herself, and so I was I!!  She loves that she is getting nails.  We decided that her reward for growing her nails will be a special manicure with Mommy.  I can't wait!!