Modern Day Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a fair maiden named Jadyn. She was a little princess with a lot of spunk and personality who loved to sing and pretend she was a doggie. Jadyn was for the most part a great sleeper but had grown quite dependent on pacifiers to fall and stay asleep both for naps and at night. When she went to the dentist for the first time her mother was informed that it would be in her best interest to have her without the pacifier by the time she was three years old and he offered two potential ways of ridding her of this habit. The first method was to go through the process slowly, cutting holes in the pacifier to make them less appealing until each one would finally break and need to be thrown away. The second method was to take the pacifiers away cold turkey, all at once.

With the date of Jadyn’s birthday looming, her mother concocted a plan based on stories she had heard. She began to speak to Jadyn about all the new babies around the world who were in desperate need of pacifiers but that there were simply not enough to go around. She explained how sad this made the babies and how frequently they cried because of it. Jadyn was distraught. She hated the thought of babies in need. She asked what she could do to help. So Jadyn’s mother then further explained that since Jadyn was such a big girl, she really didn’t need her pacifiers anymore and that she could leave them for the paci fairy to come pick up and take to babies who were in need of them.

At first, eager to help out, Jadyn immediately agreed. But that night when it was time to go to bed without her pacifier, she began to cry, “I want my pacifier. I will give them to the babies later!” Not wanting to push the issue, her mother acquiesced. The following night Jadyn was again given the opportunity to give her pacifiers to the fairy and reluctantly she agreed. It was a rough night as she cried and flailed about upon following asleep and once during the middle of the night.

When she awoke, the paci fairy had left her an incentive in the form of a FurReal puppy Jadyn had been wanting ever so badly. In return Jadyn took all 4 of her pacifiers and wrapped them up neatly in pretty colored paper and placed them in the mailbox for delivery to the fairy who would in turn distribute them to newborn babies in need.

The following night was easier, but Jadyn and her family realize that breaking a longstanding habit such as this will take time. Each night has gotten better and better and when Jadyn talks about her pacifiers she knows they are gone; sent to the paci fairy to be given to babies. She is proud that she was able to help and is becoming such a big girl. And so, she lived happily ever after, paci free.