This is the offending object |
I gave the offending object to Charlie first, given he had never even got to hold it before I felt this was fair. To Jemma's credit, she let me distract her with a watering can, however kept a keen eye on the offending object the whole time I was 'watering' her hands. She tried to make a grab for it a couple of times and each time I told her it was Charlie's turn to see it. She whimpered a bit but let me distract her again with the watering can.
Then it was time to get out of the bathtub... I took Jemma out first, took the offending object from Charlie and gave it to Jemma to play with while we got diapers and PJ's on. She was happier than a lark!! But then it was time to put it away and drink bedtime bottles, oh man! did I ever have it coming! She threw a royal fit! I think she was still whimpering about it by the time she went to bed.
So, what's to do with this situation? It's pretty normal for kids to become attached to objects. This particular offending object I think hits just the right spot on her gums when she chews on it where she is cutting a new tooth. But what do you do when the situation turns into a tantrum?
I asked my co-workers today, a team of therapists, what they would do. There were a variety of answers:
- Continue to give it to her and take it away when it's time to put it away so that she will learn that sometimes we have to put things away.
- Take it away at intervals and give it back if she can control herself from throwing a tantrum.
- Bring it out in a different setting and see what happens.
- Work on 'object permanence' with Jemma by hiding the toy under a blanket and then uncovering it so that she will start to understand that just because the toy goes away it will come back again.
I guess the moral of this post is whichever method you would take in this situation - we are still the adults and have some control over these kinds of things in our kids lives. Though most of the time I feel like I'm in charge of everything - but actually the boss of nothing, it's important that I ensure they are learning lessons appropriate for their age. If this toy is too troublesome to learn lessons with I might just be a chicken and hide it again for another 3 weeks! But we will still keep working on hands and knees and sharing, just with other toys!!
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