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conuly
Could NOT have been older than just two. If he was even that old!
And he was sitting and his mother said "Don't touch the bottom of your shoes. They're DIRTY." And he sat, and he thought, and he figured out what his mom had said - and he touched the bottom of his shoes! And his mother was upset, of course. (Meanwhile, she didn't mind at all that he was clutching a filthy playground ball that was every bit as dirty as the bottom of his shoes, but that's her issue, not mine.)
I LOL'd. No, I really did. I didn't give her any random, unsolicited advice, but I'll give it to you.
Don't do that.
Your little baby and your little toddler? He doesn't speak good English yet. Nor does he speak good Chinese, or good Spanish, or good whatever else you want him to speak. He just doesn't. And when you give him a complex statement like "Don't do this", he stops and thinks and tries to figure out what you're saying.
And the very first part of figuring out what you're saying is deciding what "do this" means. In this case, it was "touch the bottom of your shoes". But once he's exerted that tremendous effort, the picture that's VERY clear in his mind is the "do this" part.
And here's this baby with no real impulse control, struggling to understand what you say... and the thought is as good as the deed. As soon as he pictures himself "doing this" (touching the bottom of his shoe) he ups and does it. You don't want this.
So what can you do instead? I'm just thinking, but here's a few ideas....
1. You can ignore it, if it's not that serious. Children don't die from touching their shoes, no matter how clean you might want to make the world. Heck, Ana didn't even die from a year and a half of eating ABC gum from the sidewalk!
2. You can sorta ignore it. After the shoe-touching the kid's mom pulled out the hand sanitizer. I have an Opinion about that, but that's for another day. In this case, after he touched his shoes the FIRST time (as I'm sure he must have) she could've simply said "That's dirty. When we touch our shoes, we wash our hands" and left it at that.
3. You can give him something else to do. This is probably the most effective, though not with a particularly stubborn child. (But does anything work with stubborn children?) "Keep your hands on your lap" or "Hold on tight to your ball!" or (my old standby) "Can you clap your hands? Now can you put them on your head?" will distract him from the fascinating subject of HIS FEET OMG HIS FEET! without putting silly ideas in his head.
Of course, nothing is perfect, but I think any one of these ideas is bound to work better than reminding your kid that whatever-it-is is an option. That's what you do NOT want to do.
And he was sitting and his mother said "Don't touch the bottom of your shoes. They're DIRTY." And he sat, and he thought, and he figured out what his mom had said - and he touched the bottom of his shoes! And his mother was upset, of course. (Meanwhile, she didn't mind at all that he was clutching a filthy playground ball that was every bit as dirty as the bottom of his shoes, but that's her issue, not mine.)
I LOL'd. No, I really did. I didn't give her any random, unsolicited advice, but I'll give it to you.
Don't do that.
Your little baby and your little toddler? He doesn't speak good English yet. Nor does he speak good Chinese, or good Spanish, or good whatever else you want him to speak. He just doesn't. And when you give him a complex statement like "Don't do this", he stops and thinks and tries to figure out what you're saying.
And the very first part of figuring out what you're saying is deciding what "do this" means. In this case, it was "touch the bottom of your shoes". But once he's exerted that tremendous effort, the picture that's VERY clear in his mind is the "do this" part.
And here's this baby with no real impulse control, struggling to understand what you say... and the thought is as good as the deed. As soon as he pictures himself "doing this" (touching the bottom of his shoe) he ups and does it. You don't want this.
So what can you do instead? I'm just thinking, but here's a few ideas....
1. You can ignore it, if it's not that serious. Children don't die from touching their shoes, no matter how clean you might want to make the world. Heck, Ana didn't even die from a year and a half of eating ABC gum from the sidewalk!
2. You can sorta ignore it. After the shoe-touching the kid's mom pulled out the hand sanitizer. I have an Opinion about that, but that's for another day. In this case, after he touched his shoes the FIRST time (as I'm sure he must have) she could've simply said "That's dirty. When we touch our shoes, we wash our hands" and left it at that.
3. You can give him something else to do. This is probably the most effective, though not with a particularly stubborn child. (But does anything work with stubborn children?) "Keep your hands on your lap" or "Hold on tight to your ball!" or (my old standby) "Can you clap your hands? Now can you put them on your head?" will distract him from the fascinating subject of HIS FEET OMG HIS FEET! without putting silly ideas in his head.
Of course, nothing is perfect, but I think any one of these ideas is bound to work better than reminding your kid that whatever-it-is is an option. That's what you do NOT want to do.
