Bad Habits

I have two problems: nose picking and flatulence.

No, not ME....my little lady of a three year old. It seems that, at least lately, she cannot keep her finger out of her nose. I watch in disgust as my sweet little girl goes after the golden delights with the determination of a hound dog on a trail. And, to add insult to injury, when she successfully extracts the buried treasure, she proclaims with delight,

"Mommy, I did it! I got the boogie!" She then beams with delight as she nods her head, murmuring, "Yes, I got you!".

Yuck.

Up until now I have attempted the following three approaches:

1) Passive: "Oh, do you need a tissue?"
2) Humorous: "Oh yuck, boogies are dirty!" (and then I'd playfully grab her hand and tickle her tummy"
3) Direct: "If you keep picking your nose, you will get sick and I'll have to take you to the doctor!"

Of course, nothing has worked.

And now we have the latest incentive for enrolling her in charm school: excessive farting; and her father is completely to blame. Every time she lets out a "backdoor breeze", my husband howls with laughter and gives her a high five...not the kind of reinforcement I'd had in mind.

So now, everytime she does "step on a toad", she proclaims with pride, "I tooted" followed quickly with a Mommy insisted, "'scuze me."

Unlike the nose picking, I cannot reprimand her for doing it, I just have to figure out a way to teach her about manners as they relate to bodily functions. Since the average person breaks wind at least 5 times a day, it's more about finding the right time and place for such things...a lesson I have no idea how to broach.

So, if you have conquered either of the above bad habits, please fill me in....until then, I leave you with this all too appropriate quote from a bumper sticker:

"Children are like farts: your own are just about tolerable but everyone else's are horrendous."