One day a couple approached me: he was a doctor and his wife was a nurse. They were very worried about their six-year-old son, who was addicted to sucking his thumb.
If he left his finger alone, he began to bite his nails. His parents punished him, spanked him, flogged him, left him without food, did not allow him to get up from his chair while his sister played. Finally, they threatened that they would invite a doctor who treats insane people.
When I arrived on call, Jackie greeted me with flashing eyes and clenched fists. “Jackie,” I said to him, “your dad and mom are asking you to cure you so that you don’t suck your thumb and bite your nails. Your dad and mom want me to be your doctor. Now I see that you do not want this, but still listen to what I tell your parents. Listen carefully.»
Turning to the doctor and his nurse wife, I said, “Some parents just don’t understand what babies need. Every six-year-old needs to suck his thumb and bite his nails. So, Jackie, suck your thumb and bite your nails to your heart’s content. And your parents shouldn’t pick on you. Your dad is a doctor and knows that doctors never interfere with the treatment of other people’s patients. Now you are my patient, and he cannot prevent me from treating you in my own way. A nurse shouldn’t argue with a doctor. So don’t worry, Jackie. Suck your thumb and bite your nails like all kids. Of course, when you become a big adult boy, about seven years old, then sucking your thumb and biting your nails will be embarrassing for you, not that age.
And in two months, Jackie was supposed to have a birthday. For a six-year-old, two months is an eternity. When will this birthday be, so Jackie agreed with me. However, every six-year-old kid wants to become a big adult seven-year-old. And two weeks before his birthday, Jackie stopped sucking his thumb and biting his nails. I simply appealed to his mind, but at the level of a toddler.