Parents often worry when a child has a habit like thumb sucking or nail biting. And there are a number of reasons why they worry, one is that in a certain age these no longer socially acceptable and also parents worry that there maybe something bad to happen as a result worry about whether the child will need braces or about those nails getting bitten down to the bone. Usually though, these habits are serving the purpose of self soothing and self coming. And if we try to take them away from the child without giving the child any other way of handling their feeling of stress or boredom or upset, they will just hold on to them harder. So even though we worry and sometimes have reason to worry, it just does not work to go head on and try to make them stop. So, in order to help children with habits like thumb sucking and nail biting, there are 2 important things to do. The first is to look around for sources of stress and pressure on the child and distress and see what's within your power to reduce. And the second is to help the child to learn other ways of self soothing and self coming. And that will depend on your child temperament, active child may find it helpful to move heavy things around the house so let them vacuum the floor, some children may feel better when they can run around the house, quieter children may find it helpful to have a soft blanket to twirl and quiet book to listen to or a song a to sing. But look for other ways soothing that fit with what your child is really like. And you won't be able to take with his habits right away but the more they can rely on these other ways of soothing themselves overtime the less they need to hold on to these habits that are concern to you.