Hooray! You Fell Down!
Posted on 11 26, 2006 under The Manual by Noodad |
Kids will be kids and one of the things that kids do is run around and wreck themselves. This is partially due to the fact that they are new at this thing called walking and running. It can also be that their legs move faster than their brains. Whatever the reason—scrapes, bumps, and cuts are inevitable.
For you fresh noodads out there, you may get really freaked out when your kids bite it. That is perfectly natural. But what I am going to teach you today will seem completely unnatural. In fact, if you didn't already know me to be a decent dad, you would say that this is downright cruel.
Before I get into specifics let me lay down some ground rules first. Most injuries that your kid suffers is a big fat capital NBD. They are no big deal because your kid really isn't hurt that badly. They just got stunned. But should your kid be knocked out unconscious, show any actual blood, or have an arm bending backwards, do what you are trained to do: call the doctor.
Ok. Here's what you do:
When your kid runs across the room, stumbles on his pant leg and faceplants into the carpet, he will get up stunned and probably look right at you. At this time, you look right into his eyes, start clapping and yell, "Hooray!"
See, what gets your kid crying is when adults like us make a big deal out of things. I know it sounds cruel but trust me, it works. My wife and I use to do this to our daughter all the time and it even got to the point where she would eat it and then get up, smile and start clapping her hands.
Any other noodads out there use this technique?
November 26th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
Not sure if I really want my kids celebrating every time they fall over
but I certainly don\’t panic and get all upset myself. I 100% agree with you there.
The best thing I have found is to do a quick check on their reaction then walk away if they popped up quick like they are inclined to do. Kids shrug off things like running full tilt into a door frame remarkably better than I would, that\’s for sure.
Anyhow so they know I\’m there if they need me, but am not going to give them endless sympathy beacuse they did an oopsie. That way if something really dramatic happens then I can be there.
Course either approach supposes two things. I pretty much saw what happened and the imediate aftermath, and I can make a pretty good guess where the kid\’s head is at.
November 28th, 2006 at 10:31 am
Our 4.5yo daughter is pretty much a mountain goat. If it\’s climbable, she will. So the falling down is inevitable.
We started asking, \”Are you okay?\” and then waiting for the answer. If she cries, we scoop her up and coo over her boo-boo. Most of the time, though, she gets up before we can open our mouths and says, \”I\’m okay.\”
She\’s learned that falling down is normal and NBD. I\’m just hoping that this carries over into the summer when we finally take the training wheels off the bike.
December 2nd, 2006 at 7:02 pm
When our little one falls…which happens quite often being that she is a cruiser…we do nothing. I\’ve had to cover my mouth to muffle my motherly gasp-but we do nothing. We watch her closely at all times so chances are that when she does fall or bump into something it is very minor. I have found that when I have made a big fuss about a little injury it really scares her and makes her cry. Now she goes back to business as usual. When she cries upon impact with the floor/wall/doll/toy…I know she is hurt. I think that this method is teaching kids how to not be whiny…and if she really needs something I can give it to her rather than her \”crying wolf\” as she gets older.