I like to smell my hands

Refresh this page

i liked to pick my nose and wipe the boogers on the walls when I was little. I also had a tick where I would move my glasses up my face using nothing but my nose - causing me to look like I was having mini facial seizures. Also, I went thru a phase once where I continually grunted in efforts to clear my throat - when there was no need to do so. I do not have any kids of my own, so this may not hold any clout, but, in my humble opinion...

Kids go thru things, they develop these little idiosyncrasies. They grow out of them. It's a part of growing up and discovering yourself. I don't see the need to pursue the advice of a "specialist" unless he's hurting someone or himself. I'm sure he'll turn out fine. I mean, I turned out alright.

I guess.

You're probably right, I do hope its a little phase, its 50/50. We thought Abigail and her moaning, walking, rocking would be a phase --- 7 years later, she still is doing it. So, the precedence (if you can have a precedence with one kid) is there. I just can't stop saying "Fresh face, superstar" whenever he does the hand smelling through.

I used to have the finger smelling thing. I actually still do, but I can control it. It was weird. When I opened your site I realized my hand was on my face...

My biggest problem as a kid and it's still a nasty habit is biting the cuticles of my fingers. I used to do it obsessively to the point of infections. I hand a finger lanced twice, had hot sauce on my fingers, they bandaged my fingers. I grew out out of it for the most part, but when I get really stressed my fingers look like a war zone. I told Christie that she can tell how good my week has been by looking at my fingers.

I'm the same way with my fingernails Jim, I chew the crap out of them when I'm stressed or nervous. Horrible habit. I guess in some form that its obsessive, or an anxiety related action. Its not as distracting or odd as smelling your hands insensately.

I have a tendency to twirl my beard hair in my fingers (but only the hair on my chin) -- when I actually have a beard; and the hair all falls out and I get more patchy areas there (so now you know to look during Whiskerino).

I'd almost rather Elliott do something like that -- the hands to the face all the time is so obvious, so blatant, and so hard to "blend". It might pass, or it might not. He did the nose/pick flick or smear on the wall for a bit -- we'd find this brown pieces of cemented boogers on the wall in the bathroom or in his room.

I do feel better knowing that more people do odd things (than we're usually comfortable admitting). I wish I screamed obscenities randomly/compulsively (what a great excuse that'd be to curse some jerkface out)

See? Everyone does weird things at some point. :-) some people never grow out of the nose-picking one, eh? heh heh

I'd say the other thing to parents is to not make it a BIG deal in front of him. For many reasons (reinforcing behaviors comes to mind). Can't hurt to check in with someone to find out how to cope with it and for him to find how to cope with whatever stress is underlying (New school year stuff maybe? I dunno). It's awesome that you guys know your kids well enough to notice changes in behaviors and that you want to do whatever you can to help them! Ok. I'm off the counselor clock now. Sorry. ;-)

I was a weird kid. For starters, I used to bite my knuckles and smell them. I did this for years, to the point that my knuckles were entirely covered with thick calouses. I also obsessively did this thing with my throat that made my ears pop and looked like I was swallowing repeatedly. I also tapped on things constantly. That's just the beginning. I probably could have done with some counseling. I imagine that, as parents, you and Sonya just want to make sure that you're doing everything you can for your kids to ensure that they have happy, healthy lives. I think that's great.