I’m a nail-biter.

Every once in a while, I’ll buy something to try to keep my hands occupied to stop chewing my nails.

I’ve tried tangles, stress balls, Kooshes, Rubik Snakes, hand exercisers, putty and when I’m feeling more artistic, even those little magnetic desk sculptures.

Apparently, I’ve passed on my need to fiddle with things to my son. If he doesn’t have anything else handy, he’ll try doodling on clear plastic cups with ballpoint pens. He needs some handheld stress reliever. It would relieve some of my stress, too. I figure if I find something to keep his hands busy, he’ll keep his hands off things that I don’t want to mess with.

I thought I found the perfect toy yesterday at KB Toys, an inflated rubber worm, about a foot long with rubber “hair” that can be stretched, squeezed, tangled and even whacked around to set off sparkly lights.

I bought one for my daughter, too, so she wouldn’t steal his. No one will tell me how her worm ended up deflated, but she ended up with the one I bought for my son.

Now I’m back on the market.

What’s good to keep your hands occupied that won’t end up breaking, stuck in the carpet (or a 4-year-old’s hair) and is portable and unlikely to distract anyone else?

Or, if you have other ideas for keeping idle hands from getting into trouble, I’ll take recommendations on those, too.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 25th, 2008 at 5:53 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.