my mom and i brought jackjack to the mall yesterday. it wasnt our first time, but it seemed like it had a lot of firsts in it. they rode the mall train for the first time, went to the arcade to shoot kiddie hoops the first time.
it was lunchtime, so we decided to go to wendy's for burgers and fries. then, he saw the carousel. i'm a bit concerned when it comes to carousels, as i get dizzy when i'm on it and there is no way that jackjack is getting on by himself. he literally dragged his grandma towards the carousel, and when he couldnt drag her, he lied down on the floor. i came over and stared him down, so he stood up and we went to grab lunch.
afterwards, we went to the kiddie section because i had to buy him stuff. the place had clothes and toys and kiddie pools, being summer here in manila. of course, he had wanted to explore despite the crowd of people milling around. he ran around, thinking it was a great place to hide from mom and grandma. when i was able to catch him, i stooped down to his level and berated him for his poor behavior. he, then, looked at his grandma and proceeded to cry his most dramatic cries. he even lied down the floor (again!) for maximum effect. i carried him away from his grandma because i know what the effect would be. after he calmed down, i let him go to say sorry to grandma. what did he get for being such an actor?
he got this
.jpg)
and this, which he calls his GIBO shirt (GIBO is the nickname of Gilbert Teodoro, one of the presidential candidates in the Philippines, who uses green as his campaign color). that is the map of the Philippines on his shirt.
.jpg)
how do you handle mall meltdowns? heck, how do you handle meltdowns, period?
Fortunately, I have no children so do not have to deal with them. Does not sound like fun to me--dealing with meltdowns.
ReplyDeleteVisiting from SITS.
Hello cheri!
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to get this with my 13 mths old son. At church yesterday, when we disallow him from going down the stairs (we're in a special baby & tots room), he went octopus mode (this term coined by me hehehe) where he goes spineless and just leans and lie on the floor. Like yours.
But my son is smart (sneaky more like it), he will do that gradually... he goes spineless, use his elbow to stop himself from hitting the floor, looked at one of us (to see whether any of us are going to catch him from hitting the floor) and then he will decide whether to continue lying on the floor or prop himself back up.
Btw,thanks for dropping by my blog earlier! And yeah, I used to chew my food 24 times before I swallowed it. Now I don't cos I'm a pro at it already :p
Don't have kids, but it sounds like you did a good job. At the Cancun malls, I'm constantly tripping over kids running around (or on those Godawful skates/shoes). Only once has a dad actually asked his child to apologize to me for tripping me up.
ReplyDeleteI dont have a kid yet, but as a medical intern and been in a Pedia rotation, I have had experience with it, especially kids are afraid with doctors. Everyones already crying while on queue for checkups. Some of them are really difficult. I dont how did i manage to handle tons of kids. One way works for one kid, but doesnt work to another kid. How I hate whenever I had to prick a needle on them.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you handled it perfectly!
ReplyDeleteI have four and they go through a period of "testing" and then continue to test you forever, it seems.
A few thoughts: If they see that you don't get frustrated with them, that is helpful. (If they see that you are embarrassed and upset when they have meltdowns in public, then they may have them when they want to upset you (because you won't give them something they want, etc).
It is all just teaching them habits, like everything else. It is hard to ignore bad behaviors, especially in public, but if you can think of a response that you repeatedly use, he will get the picture. (A calm, consistent response - like sitting down with him on your lap while you talk calmly to him or something).
But, really, it sounds like what you did worked!