Well, we haven't thrown out the book. We're still identifying too heavily with the cartoons on "the left", as oppose to those on "the right" (the right ones offering innovative alternatives to "because I said so" which -when used in our home- spirals Sav into Savage rebellion...just ask Glen about their falling out over something tiny escalating into the loss of trampoline privileges until Sav's 100).
But it's fair to say that I looked at the chapter on "developing autonomy", and felt confident that in Sav's case, I could just give it a skim.
So that your child doesn't experience helplessness, frustration and anger - being overdependent on parents all of the time - offer choices (ha! that's why we're in this toddler mess!), show respect for a child's struggle, don't ask too many questions or rush to answer questions, don't take away hope...and my favourite - encourage children to use sources outside the home. Sav's taken the last one to a level way beyond asking the dentist if it's ok to chew gum:
"Excuse me, lady in aisle 7 of the grocery store, can you help me with my jumper? My mom tried but she's struggling."
"Excuse me, man on corner smoking pipe, can you fix my bike? Mom's not a very good tinker and dad's at work."
On the trampoline front - of course it's rained and been miserable out the whole time Sav's been banned. Then in the midst of a rare dry patch, I took Savvy to the farm for a play with friends where there are two giant tramps. She raced to one, kicking shoes off as she approached and shouting at me over her shoulder..."Dad never said ALL of the trampolines"...
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2 comments:
Your struggles bring unlimited joy to my days! All I can say is "Go Sav!"
She obviously invented "thinking outside the box". That's my girl. Thanks for the coffee machine, and the card from Lanzarote. Looking forward to seeing you all soon.
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