A part of me thinks that as parents, we really have way too many make believe creatures. In fact, it exhausts me a little bit. The Easter Bunny, Santa Clause, The Tooth Fairy, etc. all have a part in most everyone’s childhood. But, a small part of me feels bad telling those little lies to my kids. But, then I get over it, and hide those eggs, or fill those stockings.
But, I heard of a new fairy a while back while talking to another mama friend. The pacifier fairy. She told me that is how she finally got her toddler to quit taking the pacifier. She rounded them all up, told him the pacifier fairy was coming to get them, and then poof! they were gone, and he got a prize.
Well, my 3 year old has not wanted to kick the habit of the pacifier for some time. So, this idea peaked my interest. But, again, I’m not one for going all out with things like this. So, I lazily mentioned it to him and did nothing about it. He only had his “paci” (as we call it in our house) for naps and bedtime. I hid them during the day so he couldn’t use them as a crutch at other times. But, he was really getting way. too. big. for the paci. He’s way beyond a 1 year old kicking the habit. It needed to stop. But, again, I was lazy. We had a lot of changes in our house lately adding a new baby to the mix, so my sleep deprived self wasn’t feeling too motivated to tackle that challenge.
Then, last week as I was putting him down for a nap, I picked up the paci to give to him and it had a giant HOLE in it. Yikes! Safety hazard for sure. So, I found his other one and sure enough, there was a hole there too! So, I took a deep breath, turned to him and showed him the holes, and said, “I’m sorry, but you can’t suck on these anymore. I guess the Paci fairy is going to have to come tonight! I am not going to buy you any more Paci’s” He, of course, burst into tears. But, I remained strong. Needless to say, the nap that day was skipped.
I was really worried about the night time, and how he would manage. So, we talked about it a long time before bed, and then when he was laying down in his bed, we reminded him that the Paci Fairy was coming that night to bring him something. He continued to whimper, squirm, and make every noise possible in bed to avoid going to sleep. I sat next to him and gently kept reminding him to lay still, close his eyes. Over and over and over. After about literally one minute of keeping his eyes closed, he was snoring and slept through the night.
I am excited to say that after several nights of this routine, he has learned to go to sleep without it! The Paci Fairy brought him a giant water gun which he has been thrilled with. The bonus? My almost 6 year old thumb sucker is working on falling asleep without sucking her thumb now so that she can get herself a water gun too.