Bloody Wounds and Happy Kids

Developing my program and expertise to teach children Self-Help Skills began at home. When our children were babies we would hold them when they cried and take exaggerated slow deep breaths, speak in a calm voice, and hold them. Elongated ahhhhhhh’s and melodic sighs permeated painful times.

As toddler days approached, falling down and scraping a knee was a perfect opportunity to breathe slowly and deeply while guiding child to do the same. Simultaneously, we would look at the wound while continuing to be in control of breathing deeply, and encourage by complimenting what a great job she/he did with pain control. When the children grew older, self-management of scrapes and bumps became evident in daily activity. Our son, when twelve, told the dentist “no thanks” to being numbed with medication for a tooth filling. The dentist was so impressed with Darion’s skill that he discounted $50 from the bill! Darion was quite pleased to help out the family in that way and felt very good about his accomplishment, although he admitted he wished he’d been handed $50 instead!