Of my four kids, two were especially high-maintenance as babies. We're talking round-the-clock crying for months. We're talking a general pissed-offedness. We're talking major candidates for being plugged as often as possible with a pacifier. Except no amount of coaxing, no nipple-shaped, just-like-mom piece of plastic was of any interest to those two.

But plenty of parents have the opposite problem: when and especially how to wean from the pacifier?

My older daughter was a binky-junkie.

We had multiple versions of the favored shape and brand ready for emergencies. We knew better than to allow a binky-deficit to accrue. There would be hell to pay. I got quite okay with simply wiping it off on my sleeve when it fell on the floor, any floor, before giving it back to her, because I knew what would happen if more than a moment or two elapsed.

But when she turned 18 months I decided it was Time. I wanted to see her entire face for a change. This marginally-helpful article suggests patience, explanation, and reassurance when attempting to wean a kid from the dreaded binky. It also mentions bribery, and I say that's the way to go. Appeal to your kid's inner nature. Extortion may work also. And peer pressure is good. Just remember you can't reason with a toddler.

When all else fails, however, remember that just as with diapers, kids are probably not going to head off to college with a pacifier.

You can have some fun with this, though. Do what Her Bad Mother did and get yourself one of these. Or better yet, these.