For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for October 20, 2020

it works like a sore thumb (literally)

That black spot on Elizabeth’s thumb tells us the device has drawn first blood in the thumb-sucking battle both literally and figuratively.

She can put her thumb into the buccal fold and not involve her palate.

You hate it and yet it works Elizabeth? Us grown ups have a name for that…“necessary evil”.;-D

People have a way of looking at other people’s habits as physical actions with no cause, or underlying psychology.

You don’t want to be fat… stop eating so much.

You’re scared of heights… just climb that ladder.

You don’t want to suck your thumb… actually, WE don’t want you to do it… we’ll block it.

Never mind that kids usually do it for comfort.

So now Elizabeth has a bleeding thumb (!!) and she suddenly can’t comfort herself by sucking it?

That’s got to be miserable.

I know it’s a comic strip… but Lynn seems to be trying to show a real life lesson here.

Yet I didn’t see much patience, effort to understand, or willingness to even try to get Elizabeth on board, before rushing into what I consider a Draconian solution.

Maybe it was supposed to represent more than the two or three days we saw…

but it looked like sudden punishment for her failure… dragged off to the dental office, terrified.

She’s been a thumb-sucker for years, and it can take years to undo any damage…. IF there is any yet.

One more month of explaining the problem, and letting her try harder not to do it… rewarding her if she doesn’t.. …

Asking her if she’d like to try wearing gloves, or painting her thumb with one of those anti-sucking meds…

Would it make that much difference to her teeth?

Show her pictures…

How about a thorough examination of the state of her mouth… to see what’s actually happening?

Then show her the device BEFORE you put it in… let her help decide…

Go together to pick out a special new toy to cuddle when she can’t suck her thumb.

She’s not a criminal… she’s your kid!

Her future straight teeth aren’t about your pride in her appearance…

They’re for HER…. she needs to feel invested, not harassed.

I’m hoping she’s happy about the device working… and for herself, not to escape failure or punishment.

Ouch. Still midevil if you ask me. More evil than mid.

Seems like everyone is missing the whole point here. Kids continue to suck their thumbs when they get older because they are insecure. Has anyone in the family thought about that and worked from that angle?

I thought that whole “ruins your teeth” thing was debunked a long time ago. I sucked my thumb until I was nine, never wore braces, and have excellent teeth.

Yep… some people secretly love suffering, why only they know…

Why is it necessary to wear it all day long?

My front teeth starting drifting pretty badly in my late 40s. Dentist recommended Clear Correct braces. They work quite well. ‘Course, every three weeks, I had to get new trays. Then, I pop half a Hydro, and subsist on milkshakes for a day or so. OTC pain killers wouldn’t touch it.

BTW, the third panel is the transitional one for Elizabeth when she is saying the she hates the appliance and then the next hate is for the urge to suck the thumb…and the result is the fourth panel where she realizes that the appliance is working…

Dentists should call things like that gizmos instead of appliances. When I hear appliance I think of vacuum cleaners and dishwashers.

Eliza-twit.

With all this attention on her thumb, how much schoolwork has Elizabeth completed?

Knowing what on of those appliances looks like and certain that Lynn knows also, I doubt seriously that we are looking at blood on her thumb. The prongs on a “Hay Rake” appliance are neither long enough nor sharp enough to draw blood.

Tabasco sauce on the thumb might work too.