Who Took That Honey!

Have you ever read Christine Moers’ blog: welcometomybrain.net?  Well, she’s quite the character, and I had the pleasure of viewing her on the following Youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU_HJY8md-0 Basically, her six minute video was talking about therapeutic parenting and how to reach the traumatized child by helping them “find their silly”.  What does this look like you may ask?

SNOW DAY DRAMA

Today, we did not do “homeschooling”  because of the unwritten rule: if dad has a snow day, then, we do, too!  Jeff, who still thinks he’s twenty and a professional ice hockey player, decides to take our boys and oldest daughter ice skating–IN A SNOWSTORM!  Because we do not have skates for my youngest, I thought it would be a wonderful way for us to do some “more attaching and bonding”.  WRONG! Our newest addition to the family wanted to go and threw a tantrum that made my ears ring–I have no doubt that these raging screams were heard two towns over where the family was skating!  So, what did I do? Well, I first sent her to her room and left the door open.  I needed to clear my head and not react to her emotions with my frustrations. Usually, I prefer to keep her in the same room, but I had a migraine--not fun!  Shortly after, with screams bouncing down the hallway, I began to unpack the groceries and found a gigantic bottle of honey (See Picture). I, immediately, ran back into the room; our conversation went something like this:

MOM: “Do you want to help me empty the bear’s tummy?”

CHILD: She has stopped screaming to listen carefully at my quiet voice.

MOM: With intense excitement, I continue, “I’ve been looking for this bear EVERYWHERE, and I finally found him!”

CHILD: She is softly whimpering and whining at this point.

MOM: “Will you help me put the honey back where it belongs–in the honey pot?  That bear should not have stolen the honey!”

At this point, my little firecracker agrees, walks down the hall, and helps me!  Look at the picture!  It worked!  I felt compelled to share this because many of my friends either have adopted traumatized children or teach them.  By doing something completely out of the ordinary and SILLY, you are really helping the child change their frame of mind, giving their emotions a new “adrenaline rush” of something new, and are taking them out of the pattern of emotional frustration.   You will be pleased to know that after we filled the honey pot, we had a nice cup of strawberry tea with HONEY and played a game of Old Maid.