Accept the scritches or don’t get stitches. You shouldn’t be encouraging playing with hands. Also keep the claws trimmed.

Noooooo! Never encourage cats to see hands as toys! I’ve been watching “My Cat From Hell” recently, and so many “vicious” cats have a guardian who thinks roughhousing their cat is a good idea, but can’t understand why their cat attacks everyone else. Once they get into a routine of using appropriate toys to play with the cat, suddenly the cat stops attacking everyone else.

I’d be worried that using something like that would just encourage the extra spicy behavior, with the cat thinking it’s acceptable.

Don’t encourage that behavior in your cat. Hands aren’t toys. Get cat toys for you and your cat to play with together.