When I found out my second and third children were going to be less than two years apart in age, I fully expected some regression from my toddler once baby brother got here. I was not expecting her to pick up baby habits she never had, though. Sure enough, she constantly takes the pacifier out of her brother's mouth and pops it into hers. She cries and whines for the binky when she is tired. At least, she did until two weeks ago.

Pacifiers Are Not Forever, by Elizabeth Verdick, is a fantastic book for teaching young children that it is time to say good-bye to the pacifier. This is a 6" x 6" board book of 24 pages, with the last two pages featuring advice to parents on how to help children grow out of the pacifier habit. Each page has cute full-color illustrations of children. No child appears twice in the book, and the children come in many colors.

The sentences in this book are very short, appropriate for the short attention spans that the target audience possesses. It starts out by telling the reader that he/she is growing: he can walk, talk, feed himself, and is so big! Then the book draws attention to the binky and tells the child that she is now too big for the binky. It suggests other ways the reader can find comfort at cuddle time and other ways to keep his/her mouth busy. Then it points out that without a pacifier in your mouth, you can do something much funner...give someone a kiss!

As I mentioned before, the last two pages feature advice from the author and a couple of doctors on how to wean your child from the pacifier, such as having a good-bye party for the pacifier and keeping your child too busy to think about the pacifier. Most importantly, she recommends that you wait to introduce the book until you feel your child is almost ready to "put the passy in the trashy." She also recommends that you insert whichever word your child uses for pacifier into your reading. I do this, using "binky" in place of "pacifier" and "nuk" when I read it to my daughter.

My Experience
This book has been quite effective in my home, and now my daughter actually requests that I read this to her before bed. At first she just wanted to read the "Binky Book," but now she says she's too big for the binky. It helps that I modify the book a little when I read it, though. When it states:
You can walk.
You can talk.
You can feed yourself.
I ask at the end of each sentence "Who can walk? Raise your hand," and she feels more like a big girl getting more involved. Then, as she sees the pages with the big kids who don't use binkies she gets excited about being a big girl. Now if I can just channel that excitement towards the potty...

I know that most binky lovers have been addicted for much longer than the short time that my daughter was, so just reading this book for a couple of weeks will probably not be enough for those children, but this book is a great tool to help parents in their quest for a binky-free lifestyle. At the very least, Verdick offers some useful suggestions and the pictures are appealing to young children. Be sure to read her advice in the back before you read the book to your child. Good luck!

Other books in Free Spirit Publishing's Best Behavior series:
Feet Are Not For Kicking
Germs Are Not For Sharing
Hands Are Not For Hitting
Tails Are Not For Pulling
Teeth Are Not For Biting
Words Are Not For Hurting

Recommended Age: 2-4 years
Price: $7.95

Recommended: Yes

Write a Review