Since I don't have children of my own yet I'm asking mostly for myself, but as an engaged woman I'm curious for opinions about it for my future. I was talking about in my childhood thread how I absolutely loved pacifiers as a child. I referred to them as a Pacis and I nearly always had one in my mouth up until the time I was either three or four years old and then I just decided to give them up on my own. My speech wasn't really all affected by it. I spoke a little later than other kids but when I started to talk I spoke just fine. Other than a stuttering pausing problem that I still have I don't really see a real issue with it. My teeth are nearly in perfect condition too. Not only have I never had a cavity, but I never needed braces since my teeth are perfectly straight which I heard was a real problem for children who continue to use pacifiers past age two. There is even this thing nowadays called a Paci Fairy where a fairy comes to collect all of the child's pacifiers and gives them away to the babies and replaces them with toys for the child. I guess it's sort of a neat idea but I personally don't find it necessary. I think that if that was done to me as a child I would have had a tougher time with all of my pacifiers being taken away knowing that I would never get them back and I would want to keep them and my new toys. For I knew that when I was a little girl that The Tooth Fairy let me keep both my tooth and the money (I still have my box full of baby teeth) so why shouldn't this new fairy be any different? I don't know, I personally don't see the harm in letting a child keep their pacifier I turned out just fine anyway. They're going to grow out of it eventually. It's not like they're going to graduate from college sucking on a pacifier. Well,..they're probably not going to anyway, but I would rather not go there.