One evening, while walkin
g along a slippery floor beside the swimming pool, Haruka fell with the back of her head hitting the floor. She cried and later I was able to distract her. It was not very painful, but she learnt her lesson. The next day onwards, whenever we went out in the evening, Haruka wanted me to carry her instead of walking by herself. I kept coaxing her to walk by herself, but she kept crying asking me to carry her. It did not matter if it was in a bright shopping complex or out in the streets, she wanted me to carry her. I thought she was being spoiled and cranky. I left her crying, pretended to walk away, but she would not want to walk and I had to carry her.
g along a slippery floor beside the swimming pool, Haruka fell with the back of her head hitting the floor. She cried and later I was able to distract her. It was not very painful, but she learnt her lesson. The next day onwards, whenever we went out in the evening, Haruka wanted me to carry her instead of walking by herself. I kept coaxing her to walk by herself, but she kept crying asking me to carry her. It did not matter if it was in a bright shopping complex or out in the streets, she wanted me to carry her. I thought she was being spoiled and cranky. I left her crying, pretended to walk away, but she would not want to walk and I had to carry her.
Another evening, while walking by the same spot where she fell, I noticed she was very insistent for me to carry her. My hands happen to be full, so I gave the excuse that I could not carry her. She cried. I reassured her that if she walked slowly, she would not fall. She thought she had no choice, so she did try to walk slowly and later I carried her after a while. The next evening, she again cried and wanted me to car
ry her when we were walking at the spot she fell. Then, I reassured her and reasoned to her that it will be fine if she walked slowly. I reminded her that she did well last evening. Haruka uttered to herself that she needs to walk slowly. I praised her that she did well and there is nothing to fear. She did not cry anymore and was her fun self when she walked away from that spot.
This episode taught me that phobias can easily develop through any of our life events. Yet, at those crucial moments, someone need to be there to reassure us. We may need to make baby steps slowly and someone needs to be patient with us. Yet, it helps to have someone encourage us that we are making progress. We begin to turn our attention away from the fear, but to be realizing that it is not so difficult after all. We begin to build our self esteem that we can do it and we can be proud of ourselves for overcoming the fear. It helps to have someone praise us for our efforts. That someone can be Daddy. I feel good that I can be there for my child to avoid a phobia from developing.
(Photos show Haruka at the Singapore Zoo).
1 comment :
Overcoming a kid's phobia is interesting indeed. Keep it up, sir.
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