sucking my thumb

One of my friends had an uncle who lost part of his thumb in an accident. He tricked her into thinking that he could take it off and put it back on whenever he wanted (using a similar trick to 'Got-your-nose' to convince her.) Apparently she did not notice that he never had his entire thumb on him. Then he told her that the reason he could do this was that he had sucked his thumb non-stop for a whole night once, and in the morning his thumb just fell off. She, of course, wanted to have this special ability to remove a part of her hand at will, so she tried it. Disappointment is a sad thing...

K

I had this friend when I was younger, and she told me if you sucked your thumb for long enough it would turn to toffee. She was a lot older than me, so naturally I believed her. Needless to say I was v disappointed when it didn't work......

Dorothy

I was a well-known thumbsucker during my childhood. I tried to hide it as much as I could, but occassionally, I'd get caught. An uncle of mine once told me that when you suck your thumb, it shrinks and will eventually fall off. The uncle would reference my now-deceased grandfather, who only had half of his right index finger. I was told "that's how Grandpa lost his finger... he was sucking it too much." I was terrified, but couldn't stop my habit. Instead, I'd try "spreading out" my sucking, trying to not resort to my thumbs all the time, but to try my index, middle, ring and pinkie fingers as well (didn't work). Although I obviously didn't think about this threat daily after a certain point, I remember coming to the realization in high school that something I had always believed... that sucking your thumb will make it fall off... couldn't possibly be true. I asked my father and sure enough, Gramp lost his finger in a work accident while he was a ship builder in the 40's!

The Thumbsucker

I've always sucked my thumb (I'm 13 now), and for a while I thought that when you sucked your thumb some sort of something in your saliva was slowly eating away at your skin.

Actually, I'm not convinced that's not true. I mean, why else do you get those cuts?

Zeta

I am the youngest of nine, and my older brothers got a great thrill out of telling me that the police were coming to arrest me for sucking my thumb. Any time we heard sirens they would reinforce this notion. I would run and hide in the closet for hours, but I didn't stop sucking my thumb. To this day I still get a little nervous when I hear sirens.

thumbthucker

I've sucked my thumb for my entire life, and still do now. When I was like 7 or 8, an older friend who was maybe fifteen told me that she sucked her thumb a lot and it shrunk. She showed me too, but later on, (still sucking) i realized that it is very easy to just make your thumb go higher or lower than the other one when you compare them side by side. (ps im 14 have a nose ring and still suck my thumb!!!)

Sucker4Eva

my brother stopped me sucking my thumb by telling me the scissor man would come and cut it off
he was evil

Anon

I refused to suck my thumb when I was younger. I thought what I would suck my thumbnail off and I would bleed to death.

Anon

when I was little my mum always used to tell me "if younpick your nose to much your brain will fall out then I stoped strait away:-)

connies5

It was either my Mother or Grandmother who told me when I was very young that if I didn't stop sucking my thumb, it would make my thumbs go flat. They did! Of course, it may just be genetics, but it still didn't stopped me and now I'm 26! Who needs round thumbs anyway?

Silverchild

So, I'm 14 and suck my thumb. My mother made a small attempt to make me stop when we moved at the age of 5. She told me that in the new house, I couldn't suck my thumb when I was downstairs or in her bed. She said that if I did, I would be kicked out. This did not work and I sucked my thumb in her bed secretly every time I slept with her. She had also told me what most parents say. It will make my thumb shrink or pop off or turn into a permanent prune. My father also made the attempt to get me to stop. He introduced me to a friend of his who didn't have a thumb. His friend said that he didn't have a thumb because he sucked it off! Well my fathers plan backfired and I decided I only wanted one thumb. So here I am at age 14 sucking my thumb. Two thumbs up for me!

LiviLou

I sucked my thumb when I was younger, and our familie's friend had lost his thumb in a farming accident. But everytime we saw him, he would show my sister and I the stub he had for a thumb and try to scare us to stop sucking our thumb...it obviously didn't work as I sucked my thumb until I was almost 21 years old! Nice try though...

Fear of tractor-girl

when i was younger my mom told me that if i sucked my thumb it would swell up and then i'd be stuck with one big thumb. she was a mean mommie.

xJeNneSceNcex

My mother told me that if I kept sucking my thumb I would grow another one out the side of the first one.

Anon

My mother used to tell me that if I didn't stop sucking my thumb it would turn green. I don't think I believed her and I didn't think it sounded so bad anyway. One night when I was maybe 2 years old, my mother snuck in my room and painted my thumb green with food coloring. I can still remember looking at it when I was sitting outside on my swing. I wasn't particularly upset about it and I think I put it in my mouth one more time just to make sure...but it just didn't seem right after that. My mother said I never sucked my thumb again from that day on.

Bonnie

I used to suck my finger, and because I did it so regularly and couldn't sleep without (until I was about 12, and couldn't anymore because of my braces, which I needed because I sucked my finger... anyway!) I always thought my left index finger was smaller than my right because I'd been sucking it away! I'd also remembered left and right by looking at which finger was wrinkly from all the sucking

Anon

My sister and parents were constantly trying to get me to stop sucking my thumb years ago. I used to believe when they said 'Sonya, stop sucking your thumb' it meant they wanted me to suck my big toe instead. It never tasted right.

Sonya

when i was 6 i used to suck my thumb.. a lot, my mom told me if i keep sucking my thumb,i will go bald,she said thats what happens to thumb suckers.so one day at the store i saw a bald man then i shouted MOMMY THIS MAN IS BALD HE SUCKS HIS THUMB!!i was pointing at him and he gave me wierd looks and my mom was verry embarrased and told me it wasnt true she just wanted me to stop,so when i found it wasnt true,i started doing it again,except one day whn i was brushing my hair i saw alot of hair in it,so i stopped,haha!

going bald thumb sucker!

I have always sucked my thumb... until i was seven... probably because my friends dad always convinced me that if i sucked my thumb long enough i would win free hamburgers, so then i started sucking my thumb even more... why he told me that im still not sure to this day because it definatley didnt help me stop... whatever floats his boat!!!
p.s. my

i like hamburgers

when i was about 8 , my neighbor died. My mum told me that she was going too wash his body and then sprinkle some water on my hand so I oculd stop. Later she returned with a yellowish liqiud and quicly dipped my finger in. From that day on I never sucked my tumb ever agin. Now I know that it was a mix of water and yellow cake coloring.

ONEEKA