Habits and Ingenuity...by Mary Hazlett

So I am sure you all have habits in your life...wether it may be good or bad...we all have them. And why is it that bad habits are so much easily picked up than the good ones: biting fingernails, staying up too late, not eating enough vegetables, eating too much ice-cream, swearing like a sailor...although I am great at going to the gym it is only because I love to indulge my bad habit of watching 30 minutes of television that does not have singing, dancing, or animated characters in it  (and quite possibly to let them change at least one of the days poopie diapers). Well that is enough about me...

My son, Benson, is hilarious.  I am so worried for myself and the things I might have to experience being the mother of a smart, energetic, and passionate-for-life kid.  He has a few habits that he has acquired in his little 5 years of life, some are good, some are annoying, and some are really disgusting.  So, as the parent of this little guy I am trying to help him avoid embarrassment by learning not to...here it comes...pick his nose.

Believe me when I say this...this habit has caused much a headache for those in this family.  We have had countless bloody noses that has disrupted nighttime routines, morning routines, family dinners, and even attending church.  Sometimes this poor little guy gets two of them in a day...because he does not even know that he is doing it.

So, I have had several discussions with him about why and how these things happen and how important it is to take care of our body. Usually after a traumatic episode of stopping the bleeding, Benson will devise some way to stop himself from picking his nose.  They are all very inventive.  To mention a few: he used his underwear on his head with his eyes peering through the leg holes and his nose right in the front of the underwear (which worked well until he noticed the slit in the front of those boy's underwear giving him perfect access to his nostrils),  a large bandaid wrapped on the outside of one nostril to the other nostril (convenient until his runny nose made it not stick anymore), placing his snorkel mask on his face (he got a headache after only 5 minutes),  but finally was my favorite and lasted through the night...the oven mitt.  Benson came down in the morning very excited that he still had his oven mitt on and his nose had not been touched all night long.  I have to be proud of his great ingenuity for these solutions.  I love the sweet innocence of children.

Now, as mentioned above, I have a few of my own habits I feel need some of that "Benson Ingenuity" and the only thing I could come up with was a straight jacket...well...I guess I will just have to live with a little imperfection.

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