Help, please! 5 year old nervous tic pulling skin away from thumb nail, how to help her stop

[XenaWP]

My DD is 5, a twin, and has always been relatively the more nervous one. She's started a habit of playing her thumb over the ends of her fingers and her index and middle finger over her thumb. The problem with this is that she's pulling the skin of her thumb back and the pink bit under her thumb nails are now starting to recede about 3mm. My DP is a finger-picker, originally an anxious habit, now also just a habit! Please does anyone have any ideas for combatting this? She does it watching tv, walking to school, my DP says he's tempted to say it's when she's nervous. Has anyone tried meditation with 5 year olds? Thanks.

No advice sorry, well apart from asking your DH to stop his habit.

Hopefully someone will be along soon

My dd started biting her nails when she was 2. Her father is also a nail biter and even when he stopped on occasion, it had no direct effect on her. When she is super anxious, she bites them all the way down. Dd is now 11 and after trying everything under the sun in the beginning to get her to stop. I found that the best solution in the end was to actually try to deal with whatever was making her anxious in the first place. So when she does start a bout of nail biting, I spend a lot of extra energy trying to make life a little less difficult for her and send a lot of extra nurturing her way. For example, at this age, when a nail biting episode starts, I monitor her friend interactions a little deeper and hand out more help re the mean girls than she might normally get. I give out more support on homework than usual. Buy a extra treat here and there. Finding the source of anxiety seems to get a little more difficult as she gets older, but so far it's been the most effective treatment along the way. And it's extra lovely because it doesn't set up a mom nagging daughter scenario, but rather a mom nurturing daughter one.
As dd heads into her teenage years, I hope that she will accept some of the excellent options out there for self soothing these days (Mindfulness treatment, meditation etc.) and learn to care for herself (as obviously I can't/won't be following her around for ever).

Anyway, I hope my experience is helpful to you.

Thank you both for replying! SofiaAmes, that's really good advice. Her teacher last year impressed on us that she needs a lot of reassurance and as a mother of twins, I know at times I really don't help by showing my exasperation with her and her twin. Your suggestion is going to help with the root causes, and DP is really on top of that as well. Making her feel secure and safe and lots of nurturing - I'll take that - thank you!