I use terrible psychological tricks on my daughter. Whenever she falls I check her out and make sure she’s not actually hurt. If she’s just scared, I look her square in the face and say very calmly, “You’re alright, honey.” I do this because I’ve been told that if you freak out when a kid is freaking out it tends to escalate. Plus kids figure out that they can get your goat if they just fall and freak out, and frankly the kid hasn’t left me with many goats for the getting.
This calming tactic has lead Anya to two very funny behaviors.
1. As those of you who know Anya or read this blog know, she’s pretty active. So she falls a fair amount. Nothing serious (though I did catch her today as she free-fell head first from the couch to the coffee table). Now, even on some pretty tough, head smacking falls, she’ll jump up, often with tears in her eyes and say, “I’m alright, daddy!” So she’s learned that if she’s hurt, she’s probably alright.
2. When I’m upset she approaches me the same way I do her. “It’s alright daddy, you’re alright.” It’s pretty frustrating when your daughter is doing something bad, like, oh I don’t know, pushing her bed across the room, and using it to climb her dresser in an attempt to make it to her window (yes she did that today) and you walk in on her and say, “Anya, get down from there” and she says, “It’s okay daddy” and walks over and pats you on the back. “You’re okay”.
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