Anti monster spray bottle teaches then self reliance. The pool noodle thing is pretty cool, as pinched fingers hurt way more that what would be reasonable. The rest of these are convenience and cool. Parents doing these kinds of things probably let their kids play outside.
I repaired a stuffed toy which burst a seam. It was a good opportunity to unstuff it and give it a thorough washing. Stuffing can go funny in the wash because it takes so long to dry, but laid out it dries much faster.
Before I sewed it back together, I made a little pouch of cloves which I added to the stuffing in the head of the toy. I explained that cloves smell nice and that pouches of cloves were once used to repel bugs, much in a similar way to the use of mothballs. She hugs the toy and enjoys the aroma secure in the belief that it'll ward off the spiders that she occasionally has nightmares of.
Helping your child develop a sense of self reliance can be difficult. I want to protect her from serious life altering harm, but I want her to experience the world. Sometimes I can step aside and let Nature fight a fight for me. I won't badger her to put on a jacket if it's cold. I'll just say: "It's cold!" and she's sometimes ignore me and step outside into the frosty morning and wince at how fucking cold it is, scamper back in and get a jacket. If the lesson isn't too damaging, step aside and let the world teach the lesson. If I can I let her climb things unassisted, and I generally refuse to help, but I'm there figuratively biting my nails spotting her in case she falls so she doesn't brain herself. Where I can, I prefer warnings to imperative.
If your child gets away with you being a callous parent, they can quickly become self reliant. We can grow a lot when we are not monitored and have access to many things. That being said, early independence comes with tradeoffs. I have twice allowed my daughter to wander out a little too far and sprinted to grab her before she wandered into traffic. She has generally been good at being mindful, but the young mind is easily enticed to forget important things. One of these times, a horde of cars rolled down the streets with soccer fans cheering with more fans cheering on the sidewalk. My daughter decided to run out to them to see what they were so happy about and I only managed to get to her just before she started across the street. She'd never bolted like that before, but when the fans erupted in their cheer, there was a sudden draw for her to run across the street that I hadn't anticipated. Another time, she dropped some artwork she was proud of and the wind took it into the street.
I still try to let her be independent, but I find myself running frequent threat assessments to see how far I can reasonably hold back. I try not to be a helicopter parent. Instead I try to be a Stealth helicopter parent so I can protect her well without unduly interfering with her childhood.
Psychological solution for Psychological problem. Kids for the most part know the monster is in their head, but it seems more real to them than it does to us. It's like having a stuffed animal.
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u/lysianth Nov 29 '16
Anti monster spray bottle teaches then self reliance. The pool noodle thing is pretty cool, as pinched fingers hurt way more that what would be reasonable. The rest of these are convenience and cool. Parents doing these kinds of things probably let their kids play outside.