Throughout the course of time, generation after generation of parents have watched their children grow up expressing fairly predictable behaviors. Toddlers, especially, have gained a reputation for being notoriously fond of security items – blankets, stuffed toys, pacifiers, pillows and their own fingers or thumbs.

While many parents feel the attachment to such items is nothing more than a normal stage that all children go through, many professionals feel that such behaviors often bring consequences more costly than the majority of parents realize.

"It's true that many toddlers have special items that they use to soothe and comfort themselves with – most often it's pacifiers, thumbs, special blankets or pillows or favorite stuffed animals," says Dr. Eileen Kennedy-Moore, a psychologist in Cranbury, N.J. "These 'cuddlies' can be very helpful tools on their journey toward learning to manage their feelings; however, after a certain amount of time they can actually interfere with development."

Kennedy-Moore, who wrote the book, The Unwritten Rules of Friendship: Simple Strategies to Help Your Child Make Friends (Parenting Press, 2005), refers to development in a number of ways. Development, as she states in reference to these "toddler addictions," includes both physical and emotional.

The Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, for example, states that chronic thumb sucking cannot only "reduce peer social acceptance in school-age children," but can also result in dental malformations such as class II malocclusion, narrowing of the dental arches and mucosal trauma. Similar studies show that heavy dependence by toddlers on items such as blankets or stuffed toys can hinder the development of "self-soothing" strategies – among them emotion regulation, anxiety reduction and stress-coping skills.

Because of the conflicting nature of expert advice and parental intuition, many questions arise as to the limits to which parents should let their toddlers go. Most guidelines coincide with the child's first year of school since the majority of "security" behaviors raise concerns of social acceptance. Social acceptance from an early age, as most experts agree, is an important contributor to proper social development.

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