Thumb sucking w security blanket in children and adolescents

[fishermansfriend]

Hi! I’m 15 atm and I’ve always had a thumb sucking habit. I’ve been curious about it for awhile now and I’ve never seemed to get an answer from anyone. I’ve had a baby blanket since I was young and I’ve always loved scratching it and rubbing it against my lips and face. This is extremely embarrassing to talk about and I would have never come forward about it if it wasn’t for a little boy I babysit. Him and his 2 younger brothers are currently being fostered by a family friend and his family situation is unbelievably similar to mine. He was born to 2 parents who were drug abusers and he ended up being taken away from them multiple times, and separated from his younger brothers because of the age difference. He is 7 at the moment and he can’t seem to catch a break. Since he lives with a family friend his dad is allowed to live in the same house as him. His dad stopped using drugs thankfully. But the dude has 0 parenting skills and relies on spanking, yelling, and the moto “treat others the way you wanna be treated” his mother occasionally comes by and she’s not much better. I almost got into a fight with her for throwing dishes at her children. I’ve caught him sucking his thumb more than once and I ended up showing him a picture of me at his age sucking my thumb so he wouldn’t be embarrassed. Since then he’s always liked to scratch my hair when I braided it. He always sucks his thumb while doing it to. I’m looking for advice that may help me and him. And possibly just answers to my questions thank you!

 

[toosmartforyou01]

@fishermansfriend It sounds like something similar to age regression. You may not be reverting entirely back to a younger mindset but there are some behaviours (such as thumb sucking) that can naturally occur as a symptom of age regressing.