It’s normal for kids to pick their nose, bite their nails and put their hands down their pants.
Habits start innocently enough. Your kid has a booger in their nose, they stick their finger up there to get it out and they feel better. Over the course of a cold or an allergy season, if that finger up the nose brings relief enough times, it could turn into a habitual thing they do anytime they need comfort. Same goes for other habits, like nail-biting.
That doesn’t mean you should let them go at it with abandon, because many habits aren’t exactly socially acceptable, while others can cause harm. But how do you actually get them to stop? Here’s help.
Nose picking
Why they do it
Kids pick their noses to meet a need—there’s something in there that’s bothering them! Over time, they may start to pick out of habit whenever they need comfort or when they are bored, like during screen time.
How to handle it
First of all, don’t shame them—no matter how gross you think it is—because nose-picking is developmentally normal,
If your kids are old enough to understand, you can have a brief conversation about how putting their finger up their nose and then touching other things spreads germs. Teach them that when there is something in their nose that needs to be dealt with, they should go to the bathroom and use a tissue to gently pick or blow. Some parents say that by making kids get up and wash their hands every single time they pick their nose, the behaviour stops, as kids don’t usually love leaving what they’re doing to wash up.
If your kids are too young to understand the germ risk, save that chat for later. Instead, be explicit about what you want them to do with their hands. For example, saying “Hands down” is more effective than “Stop picking your nose.” Give them something to hold on to, like a toy or a sippy cup, to keep their hands busy.
If your kid has started picking their nose when they are bored or just sitting around and watching a movie, for example, proactively give them something else to do with their hands during that time. “Give them a sensory ball, like a bumpy ball, or a fidget toy, and tell them to roll that in their hands while they are watching the show,” says Irwin. “That’s going to busy their hands, give them some sort of stimulation. The repetition of it will feel good, be comforting, and it’s distracting their hands from picking their nose.”
What if I just ignore it?
If kids don’t learn at home that picking their nose isn’t OK, they’ll end up doing it at school or in other public places and they’ll get called out, which can be super embarrassing. Nose-picking can also cause chronic nosebleeds.
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