Dan Nails It!: The End of Nail Biting - Children's Book

Dan had been biting his nails for as long as he could remember. It began at night when his mother said goodnight and turned off the light; he felt alone in his big, dark room. As he grew older and felt a little nervous or agitated, like at the beginning of the school year, his nails would find their way into his mouth. Initially, Dan's favorite to chew was his thumbnail. However, once he was done with that nail, he would move on to the rest of his fingernails. Slowly but surely, he would bite another fingernail or two. By the time he was 10 years old, every single fingernail of his had been completely bitten off.

One day, Dan realized that his habit was a vicious circle that he couldn't break. He didn't want to bite his nails, yet it provided him with comfort and soothing. Feeling disappointed and discouraged with himself, he turned to his mother for help.

Dan's mother knew that the first step to helping Dan break his habit was for him to genuinely want it himself. "First, to stop biting your fingernails, you have to really, really want to break the habit, and then we can start to build a plan. When you genuinely want to, let me know!" she told Dan, walking away. Dan said, "I have made up my mind. I want to get rid of this bad habit of mine. I want to. I really want to!" Together, Dan and his mother decided on a special plan to help Dan break his nail-biting habit. His mother suggested, "We will divide the next two weeks into a plan of action, just as if you were training for a running competition. The first step is for you to define what your goal is and write it down."

"Okay, well, my goal is simple. I want to stop biting my fingernails," Dan explained to his mother, and she grinned. Seeing her grin, Dan added, "Okay, well, maybe it’s not so simple, but I can do it... but I can do it."