Eight-year-old Yitzy has a twitch. His mouth curls up (on one side only) into something between a smile and a grimace — over and over again. It makes Yitzy look a bit odd so his parents and siblings keep telling him to “stop it.” Everyone is stressed over it. For his part Yitzy claims to have no control. “I’m not doing it on purpose — I just can’t help it ” he insists. Mom is getting worried. “What’s wrong with that child?” she wonders. “He looks like a nervous wreck!”

Tics

Yitzy may be no more nervous than anyone else despite his “nervous habits.” Repetitive movements or vocalizations are called “tics” and they have more to do with the wiring of a person’s brain than with emotional conditions like nervousness or anxiety. Whereas an anxious child may have fears and phobias or may worry incessantly a child with a tic disorder may just have tics — no fears or worries included.

The child may chronically sniffle or clear his throat or make small grunts squeaks or barking sounds. Repetitive noises like these are called “vocal tics.” Or he may wrinkle his nose or pull his shoulder backward or twist his neck a bit over and over again as if he needs to straighten something out. Repetitive movements are called “motor tics.” In the case of Tourette’s syndrome he may do both repetitive sounds and movements. A tic can be suppressed for a while but then it must be released. While it’s true that tics occur more frequently during periods of stress they aren’t caused by stress. They are caused by genetic factors. Some tic conditions are transient meaning they appear for a time (commonly around age seven to nine in children) and then disappear on their own.

Sometimes however tics can persist throughout life. A child cannot stop persistent tic behavior on his own; he needs professional assistance. Medical psychological and even naturopathic interventions (i.e. Bach Flower Therapy or homeopathy) have been known to help. Getting upset with a child not only does not help this condition it may increase the kind of stress that leads to an increase in tic behavior!

Other Habit Disorders

Kids can have other behaviors that look like nervous habits but are actually biologically based disorders. For instance those who repeatedly pull out their hair (or eyelashes or eyebrows) may have trichotillomania. Those who compulsively pick at their skin (nails scabs moles etc) may have dermatillomania. These conditions are both characterized by an irresistible urge (something like an itch that must be scratched). Some kids who feel compelled to wash their hands count their steps say certain phrases touch or tap things and so on may look like they have some strange habits — whereas they actually have obsessive-compulsive disorder. Most of these disorders not only lack spontaneous remission but in fact worsen over time when left untreated. Repetitive behaviors should always be checked out by the child’s physician.

Bad Habits

Habits are repetitive behaviors that are subject to voluntary control. While a child may not be able to stop making that little coughing sound he can keep that finger away from his nose. Parents can help children break their bad habits using many types of interventions.

It is often helpful to offer the child a replacement activity: “Instead of chewing on your shirt or pencil here is a fidget-toy to play with — just keep it in your pocket and pull it out when you want to chew on something.” Parents should offer their child specific habit-fighting techniques. For instance if a child bites her nails parents can teach her to clasp her hands together or clench her fists to “hide” her nails. It also helps to explain to the child why he shouldn’t engage in the bad habit (i.e. it’s not healthy or people are bothered by it or it’s not appropriate).

Since most voluntary habits are “self-soothing” behaviors (calming the nervous system) they will occur far less often when the child has other ways to calm and soothe herself. Parents can teach a child how to relax by breathing deeply and slowly. They can then encourage the youngster to do deep breathing instead of the habit. EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) is a stress-reducing self-help tool that can often decrease habit behaviors — parents can teach it to their child or take their child to a practitioner for treatment. In fact mental health professionals have a range of interventions that can help kids break habits.

If despite parental assistance a habit is persistent unhealthy socially unacceptable or very annoying for parents and others to live with then it may be worth seeking professional assistance. On the other hand if the habit only bothers the parent and no one else perhaps the parent should just wait quietly until the child outgrows it.