Today I saw a child sporting a dummy as he walked around the playground. I’m not sure exactly how old he was, but it seems unlikely that he was less than 3. It made me feel sad as the dummy made him seem babyish, vulnerable and mute.
A few minutes later the dummy was out and it was as if he was another child: vocal, assertive, articulate and of his years. Now it may be that he’d just woken up from his nap or something like that, but it did start me thinking about dummies. When in a child’s life are they too old for them? At what stage should they be limited to bedtime or nap time? In short, when do they become a private bedtime thing and no longer suitable for daytime use? I’m not sure of the answer (and I have no experience of using dummies apart from my son spitting them out when I tried them). Perhaps it’s not right to be prescriptive and maybe it’s an individual thing. What do you think?
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