I am delighted to announce a new technique to stop kids from crying when they decide to throw tantrums. Results are guaranteed based on one data point. Here’s the approach.
When the kid cries, tell him/her you are going to record it. I found my cell phone’s memo feature really handy to record crying spells. Once the recording is complete, play it back to the kid. He/she will probably be sufficiently surprised and distracted by the recording to stop crying. Some self-aware kids, like my 4 year old, might actually feel differently about crying when they hear themselves.
I quizzed my 4 year old recently about the experiment. She told me that she usuall “cries for nothing”, and was “embarassed” by the recording. We mutually agreed that such recordings will not be made public in her pre-school.
February 27, 2009 at 7:20 pm |
That’s awesome. I will try it on Jiya, my 3.5 years old, and will let you know how it goes
Then we will have 2 data points.
April 6, 2009 at 7:37 am |
I actually tried it on Jiya and a few other kids. It worked 70-80% of the time and the remaining 20-30%, they started screaming at me for recording it
Jiya is now so hooked that if she sees any other kid crying, she comes to me and says “Papa, that kid is crying. Let’s record it”
Thanks for the wonderful technique!
By the way, I liked the mindfulness game and Jiya loves playing it. She is too little to play it right, I guess. So when I ask her what she was thinking, she comes up with a brand new thought by looking at things around her and starts laughing..