Nose Picking (And Eating!) Might Actually Be Good For Your Kids

My son Jacob is four and a half and is a super-dedicated nose picker. It started about a year ago when my dad spotted him with a finger up there, rummaging around and gave him a 'Ah, ah, ah!', which sort of worked for a while. And then he got Impetigo, so we knew he was still picking away in secret, and we knew that he was at it hardcore. The impetigo was painful and itchy - and contagious! - so he had to stay home from pre-school until it cleared up so he wasn't a happy snot remover during that time. And so we got on with our nose-picking-free lives for a bit until recently when I caught him not only picking his nose, but eating it. Not only that, but now he's doing it defiantly. 'Ah, Ah, Ah!' no longer works on a four-and-a-half year old so what's next? The naughty step? While the act of nose-picking is socially unacceptable, according to some studies, it might actually have some health benefits! A biochemistry professor at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada says that eating mucus from your own nose is an effective method of strengthening the immune system. Nasal secretions trap germs and other toxins that are in the air so that they don’t enter our lungs. Instead, we swallow most of our nose mucus, even if we don’t actually pick our nose and eat it.

"By consuming those pathogens caught within the mucus, could that be a way to teach your immune system about what it's surrounded with?" 

Good news for our little nose pickers perhaps, but not all of us are happy for our kids to be obsessed with wiggling their fingers around in their noses in public. However, if your kid's nose-picking habit is bothering you, you could try the following: 1. Break the habit Have a conversation with your child to figure out why they are doing it. Chances are it's a habit they have gotten into which could be resolved by giving their hands something else to do. 2. Check for allergies Some kids say that their noses are 'uncomfortable or 'doesn't feel right' - try to find out if your kid has allergies that could be causing excess mucus production (many pharmacies offer allergy testing services). 3. Talk to your child If you are worried about the socially unacceptable aspect of nose-picking, you could suggest that your child keeps it to the privacy of your home. 4. Consider dehydration Dried-out snots in the nasal cavity just have to be picked, right? You sort of couldn't blame the kid. So add saline drops or cool air humidifiers to your family routine. 5. Don't be harsh Try not to make too much of a big deal of nose-picking in terms of punishment. Speak to your child and reassert the 'rules' for your family on it as many times as you need to, and get to the root of the problem without causing embarrassment or shame to your child. 6. Insist on good hygiene To avoid the spread of germs or infection, make sure that your kids understand the importance of using tissues and washing their hands if they have found their fingers up their noses! 7. Keep fingernails short Keeping your child's nails clean and short will help to prevent nosebleeds and the spread of germs. 8. Be patient! Most kids will grow out of it and/or realise that other people don't like to see them picking their noses. By the time they are teens (or sooner, hopefully!), they will do it in the privacy of their rooms or the bathroom and hopefully wash their hands afterwards! Now we just need to get all those drivers to stop doing it in their cars, right?! What do you think? Are you bothered about your children picking their noses or are you happy to leave them at it? Join the conversation on Twitter @HerFamilyDotie