Our little man is a real rough and tumble little character, he crawls at the speed of sound, runs at light speed and climbs with the determination of Sir Edmund Hilary. (Well at least it feels like that if you are chasing around after him all
day). As such, he is often bumping and falling about the place, or jamming his fingers when he bangs his toys, giving himself little injuries. He is generally pretty tough, and if we laugh at him, he just carries on like a little mack truck dragging stuff all over the house and getting into mischief.
Like all babies, toddlers and children, he trips, falls, and bangs his way around all day. How this affects him, and his reaction when this happens is very much based on how we respond to each incident. As adults, we have the experience to know what is serious, and what is general day to day stuff. With every day bumps and scrapes, we make light of it. We acknowledge it, as it would be bad manners not to, however we don't rush to pick him, we tell him to pick himself up. We say uh oh, or oops, (as does he now), and if that little bottom lip is trembling we give the injured part a quick kiss, and send him on his way.
Sometimes when he really hurts himself, like enough to leave a good mark or bruise, and the tears are flowing, we have a quick fix. We take him to the basin or nearest water supply and place the injured part of him, either under the running tap, or into the cool water. The reason we started to do this was to distract him and give him a quick placebo which has always worked to cheer him up. However I now encourage my friends and family to do the same thing, for one day - heaven forbid, but it's bound to happen - he will have a serious injury that requires cold water or ice as an emergency treatment. Having learned from an early age that this means the pain will go away, and he will feel better - we hope that he will accept the treatment when it is really necessary.
The other day he walked up to an open drawer, then leaned on it with all his weight, closing it on his fingers before I could grab him. There was quite a nasty purple line across his fingers, and he was in obvious pain. As soon as I picked him up and headed toward the tap, he calmed down and stopped that blood curdling scream that makes your heart break. Cooling the injury with the cold water was not only the correct, sensible treatment for him, he stopped crying and eagerly put his hand into the water immediately without struggling.
Children are all very flexible, and very supple, they can bounce back from injuries that aren't serious, and continue on their way very quickly. As long as we respond with a minimum of fuss, and encourage this. I have always found that the children who make the most fuss about small injuries do so because their parent's react in a similar manner. Of course, when they are tired, all this goes out the window, and everything hurts twice as much, and cuddles, are definitely required. It also means that you will know when they are seriously hurt, because they won't be making a fuss about nothing.
Of course we would like to protect him from every possible injury that could occur in the future... Yet I doubt that we can, or all parents that have gone before would have done the same. It is great to know that we can at least treat him and calm him in the first instance when he gets a bump, bruise or scratch in his day to day explorations, and hopefully when a more serious situation arises. I hope this helps you if you have a budding rock climber, kick boxer, rugby player or triathlon runner on your hands... Or just a little weekend warrior prowling about your house .
Luisa Foliaki - Mother of MicroMe
PS - Since writing this, MicroMe has progressed to using ice to calm himself down - this is also very handy for ascertaining where his actual injury is, as crying kids don't often speak. He also finds it very comforting, as it is a happy habit for him when he is sore and sad.
(February 2008) (
