What do you do to keep your hands busy?

[Tonya]

My son has been diagnosed with trichotillomania which is obsessive hair pulling. He's pulled out his eyebrows and eyelashes, and he now has a bald patch on his head. Words can't describe how disturbing this is for me. Anyways, he does this when he is watching tv and when he's falling to sleep at night. I'm trying to think of things to get him to keep his hands busy. So far I have:

-silly putty
-stress ball
-sewing
-rubberband
-sun flower seeds
-Yo-yo

Any other ideas?

[AmberLee]

o Crafts: crochetting, embroidery, knitting, tatting ...

o Jacks (a game with a small rubber ball and metal counters, at least I think that's what it was called)

o Clay

o Reading magazines (they seem harder to hold w/one hand to me...)

o Finger-painting

o Kneading dough...

? Good luck. Have you thought of doing a web search and seeing what others have done for this???

[caseysmom]

Tonya, my dauther did this with her eyebrows at about your son's age, she outgrew it and the eyebrows thankfully don't have any permanent damage.

[Kater]

Tonya, I'm so sorry to hear this. One idea that came to mind is geometric toys like Heaven's Stars (http://www.24hours7days.com/Puzzles/Heavens_Orb.html) or Rubik's Cubes.
I also found this list of all kinds of strategies.
http://www.hairpulling.org/sheep.html
I sincerely hope you find something that can help Jaden! {{{HUGS}}}

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

Making jig-saw-puzzles?

[Laura's Babies]

When my grand daughter was small, she use to twist and pull her hair out on the sides of her heads, no where else.. So I told my dauhter to keep that hair shaved awhile (sure couldn't look any worse). She started shaving it and it broke that habit. Now grown, that grand daughter has the thickest hair on a girl you ever saw!

[Tonya]

Originally posted by Kater
Tonya, I'm so sorry to hear this. One idea that came to mind is geometric toys like Heaven's Stars (http://www.24hours7days.com/Puzzles/Heavens_Orb.html) or Rubik's Cubes.
I also found this list of all kinds of strategies.
http://www.hairpulling.org/sheep.html
I sincerely hope you find something that can help Jaden! {{{HUGS}}}

What a great list! I've been searching and searching. I've found alot of helpful things, but nothing as good as that. Thank you.

Thanks, everyone. I am glad to know he isn't the only child that does this. It's all new to me. I hope he outgrows it also.

[sirrahbed]

After reading Laura's reply - my idea did not seem so silly so I will post it. How about giving Jaden a "buzz" cut??
Then the ideas others have helped find about keeping his hands busy may all help get him through this stage.
Take care!!! ((((Tonya))) as I know this is upsetting to you.

[Tonya]

Originally posted by sirrahbed
After reading Laura's reply - my idea did not seem so silly so I will post it. How about giving Jaden a "buzz" cut??
Then the ideas others have helped find about keeping his hands busy may all help get him through this stage.
Take care!!! ((((Tonya))) as I know this is upsetting to you.

Yeah, I'm going to do that. Right now, he's in need of a hair cut, so his hair covers the bald patches. I don't want to shave it completly because he doesn't have eyebrows so he'll look like he had chemo. He goes to year around school and he'll be off track starting next week. I'm going to cut his hair short then.

By the way, I've been reading alot on this...many adults suffer from it. Some of the things they do to try and stop are really extreme. It is really sad. Alot of women shave their heads for months and wear wigs to try and break the habit. I even read a suggestion to glue a nylon cap on your head. Apparently there is a semipermanent glue that'll keep the cap on for several months, keeping the person from pulling. That seems so uncomfortable!

[kt_luvs_kitties]

I am sorry poor Jaden has to deal with this. My best friend years ago had this, and they put her on paxil. Probably not the best solution, but the hair pulling stopped.
I have no advice, other than I will be praying that he stops this now, and can get over it quickly, because that has to hurt his little head Poor baby

[catnapper]

How sad that he has this problem... I do hope he outgrows it! Didn't the doctor give you any literature or advice?

Looks like Jaden is suddenly going to have a slew of new hobbes!

[chrangharris]

I would give students with AD/HD things to play with in their hands- some play-doh or silly putty worked the best. You could also try legos or blocks while he is watching T.V.

[My Peanuts]

Originally posted by AmberLee
o Finger-painting

That is a great idea. His hands would be messy and it might deter him from pulling. Good luck with this Tonya. Just remember of all the problems a person can have this one isn't so bad. I know it's frustrating, but he will probably grow out of it.

[catnapper]

I just remembered - Crayola makes a foamy clay product that has a light fluffy feel when you start working with it... its addictive to play with it... just pulling and kneeding it, etc. As it hardens over the course of a few hours, it gets harder and harder to kneed, less malliable. I think its inexpensive and will fit the bill! He can sit watching tv, reading, etc while his hands are pulling the modeling clay. I think its called Model Magic or something like that.

He can do a ton of stuff with it - its white out of the package. He could use crayola markers to COOR the clay! Its really cool stuff!

[Tonya]

Originally posted by catnapper
I just remembered - Crayola makes a foamy clay product that has a light fluffy feel when you start working with it... its addictive to play with it... just pulling and kneeding it, etc. As it hardens over the course of a few hours, it gets harder and harder to kneed, less malliable. I think its inexpensive and will fit the bill! He can sit watching tv, reading, etc while his hands are pulling the modeling clay. I think its called Model Magic or something like that.

He can do a ton of stuff with it - its white out of the package. He could use crayola markers to COOR the clay! Its really cool stuff!

Thank you! I bought it yesterday. We went on a shopping spree at ToysRUs. We spent $80 on widgits and gadgets. I got Rubix cubes, water weenies, the model clay, silly putty, mind bender puzzles, posable rubber guys...

Today, I put a bandaid on each pointer finger. He was ok with it because it wasn't embarrassing for him. I asked the teacher and she said it worked! I asked Jaden if he'd mind wearing bandaids until his hair grows back and he said he wouldn't. It's a temporary fix though. Hopefully we can break the habit and figure out why he's doing it.