19months

Life with a Toddler: Soft Play Mishaps

| Rohana Aisha Dewfall

Occurred March 4th

You know those moments when your toddler gets hurt and you know it’s partly your fault? I had a moment like that today with Theo in a soft play centre.

My tiny humans loves slides And usually the higher and faster, the better. So he went for it, with a little help we got to the top of the gym styled course and to the biggest slide. My friend and her daughter when down together, but Theo didn’t want to get on my lap, so, (foolishly) I didn’t force him. Instead, I sat down on the slide next to him and said we would go down together.

1, 2, 3, weeeeee….

Queue crying… queue loud, I’m in pain crying! He smacked the side of his face near the bottom.

The result: my kid now looks really roughed up.

This isn’t the first instance of bruising this week! He has tripped and fallen and been downright clumsy over the weekend, so this episode on the slide is just icing on the cake.

Oh and now he’s afraid of slides too.

My takeaway point: sometimes, as much as its great to let toddlers take charge during play, it’s also probably wise not to let them go down giant slides without sitting on your lap.

However, overall he is fine, so as much I feel guilty for not preventing the hurt, I also know he has learned a lot from it and will let me do it with him next time. We will tackle slides together another day and hopefully he will find the joy again.

Life with a Toddler: Bathroom Do-overs

| Rohana Aisha Dewfall

Occurred March 1st 2019.

We’ve had a rough few days recently, lots of tears and a lot of emotional stuff happening for my son. Tonight was no different, he refused to eat dinner, cried because I said we were not reading a book for the 12 time and then splashed water everywhere while brushing his teeth. He loves running the water and splashing.

We (I) finished. He didn’t want to leave the bathroom.

I picked him up, moved him and closed the door switching off the light. And of course he cried. And cried. And cried.

Then it clicked.

Rewind – we had a do over!

I got down to his level, apologised for rushing him and told him we would try again. He got back up on his stool by the sink, ran the water and waited. I think he was a bit confused.

I asked him to shut the water off and help me turn off the light. It was magical! He shut off the water, got down off his little step and said “up” so he could read the light switch. He helped me close the door and said goodbye to the bathroom.

We carried on much happier and I could breathe a little easier knowing I had succeeded in helping him overcome at least 1 of the many hardships of his daily toddler life.

My takeaway point:

I learned that do-overs can save a situation. Paying attention and helping my son feel in control moves us away from near meltdowns to a way of working that may take 5 minutes longer, but that it keeps the peace.