"Just once" is the beginning of a habit

My daughter held my thumb when I was nursing her. And she held my thumb when she was falling asleep. At first I thought that it was cute. But after she was getting older and older and still wanting to hold on to my thumb to fall a sleep, it wasn't cute anymore. It was tiring. I had to wean her from that as well.

I have noticed that with kids you let something happen ONCE and after that the kids have adopted a new habit. I let our son to come to sleep in our bed once and after that he woke up every night trying to come to sleep between us.

Or you have stopped nursing during nights. One time you are too tired to say "no" and you are back to the same old habit again. And you have to wean the baby again from that habit.

Children need love. I think that often the reason behind all these quickly developed or re-developed habits is to feel loved... What is the love language of your child? Is the words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service or physical touch? (Chapman, Gary: The Five Love Languages). How does the child show you his or her love? That might be his or her love language. We should love our kids with all these languages, but also to try to find our what is the primary love language that especially makes the child to feel our love....