picking at scabs, ew, what to do

[mushpea]

parent of mindee age 8yrs rang this morning, I have not had him since friday before half term as they are termtime only, she rang to say that first of all his behaviour has been awful,, great a nice hard working afternoon then lol but also that he has scabs on his face because he keeps picking at them! now if I catch him doing this I will tell him to wash his hands but i cant watch him constantly so how do I deal with this, he can be sneaky and I know he will do it when my back is turned, do i wait to catch him or do I tell him from the minute I pick him up that has to shadow me as I dont want the toys all yucky, cant decide which is best as if I make him shadow me I am drawing attention to it but if I dont notice him do it and he does my toys will be gunked
what would you do

[jillplum]

I dont know what I would do really. Perhaps say oh dear your face looks really sore best not touch it in case you get an infection and have to see the doctor about. Better keep it really clean. Maybe keep him so busy he forgets about pickeg or maybe restrict him to one place so he doesnt contaminate everything Depends on the child really.

[sarah707]

They can really quickly turn into impetigo especially on the face - can they be covered? x

[mushpea]

Do you know what?? He was really well behaved all afternoon and also didn't pick once !!!
If he does pick tho j will threaten to stick plasters on maybe that will help!

[singingcactus]

He won't be picking them deliberately. He will have bored fingers. He may not know his fingers are bored until after he has taken the top of the scab off. Here he would be given a 'twiddly' cloth or toy to hold the whole time. For my youngest son a taggy blanket usually works, or one of those twiddly ring/toys that people who are giving up smoking twiddle with. Even a clicky pen that you push the button on to turn on and off would do. Most macdonald type toys do the trick too, or some bits of ribbon tied together, or string,or beads etc.
Just something with a nice feel and repetative action will take the edge off the bored fingers (might well irritate the poop out of you if it is a clicky pen though lol).

[mushpea]

thanks I think its also an attention thing cause his mum says he has had terrible behaviour at home and knowing what he's like and she's like this would just be an added extra to get her attention, tonight we came home, made scones, they played with lots of the new bits and peices I had out then ate scones having spread jam on them and by that time it was tidy up and go home, the only time he mis behaved was when I said tidy up and he tipped a whole toy box out and started playing with it! for him this was a good night, i think all the different stuff here distracted him, once he is fed up with all the new stuff it may start again but hopefully by then they wil have healed a bit.