Hopefully she will be walking soon, but for now I'm left with the unmet expectations of countless acquaintances and friends, a cranky child who wants to be independently mobile but isn't and a rather sore back from stooping over slightly while Maria holds my finger while she walks! If nothing else this has been a learning experience. (1) Never ask anyone if her or his child is _____ing yet and (2) Leave babies on the floor until they spontaneously get themselves up and start walking or you might be in for months of a back pain! (Note: If you're under 5 feet tall, #2 might not apply.)
On a completely different note, here's another interesting article about children and advertising. The author's not-yet-reading son asked if she was going to buy Chlorox at a grocery store which is a product she rarely buys. This goes to show how insidious advertising really is! I can remember as a child seeing just one ad for a Slip-N-Slide and I absolutely HAD to have one. My parents, as usual, refused to buy it and eventually my sisters and I created a makeshift one out of a sheet of plastic and a sprinkler. This article has some ideas (beyond the simple I'm-not-going-to-waste-my-hard-earned-money-on-that-piece-of-junk! technique) on how to nurture in your children a healthy skepticism for advertising.
4 comments:
My sister really wanted to walk when she was little but was too scared to let go of my parent's fingers. My dad (I think it was) came up with the idea of holding on to pencils. Kahleia held on to the pencils on one end and Dad hung on to the other end. Eventually he let go of the pencils and she walked around the house by herself holding pencils in the air. :) It works!
I tried doing something like that with a stick and it didn't quite work, but I'm going to give it another try with a pencil and see how that goes. My mom reminded me that I was afraid of riding my bike without my training wheels and finally my dad resorted to holding on to the seat of my bike while running behind me. He'd start saying, "I'm holding on really tight now!" and I knew that was exactly when he'd let go!
Sue, I know how it feels to have people-- friends and strangers--asking if the baby is doing __ yet and it's no fun!!!!! I think the hardest one for me was "is he sleeping through the night?" Accomplishments are way too big of a deal even for a 1-year-old!
Thanks Lisa! It's good to know there's a kindred spirit out there! I've been thinking of a good way to show interest in and ask about other people's children without causing the parent (or child!) feel badly about these crazy milestones. I'm thinking that simply asking what the child or baby has been up to lately might be a good way of phrasing it. Children are always doing something new and that's fun to share!
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