Since he was 3, Muawiyah always insisted to independently wash his hands by himself. He would casually walk up to the sink, adjust the plastic stool, climb up, turn the tap on, wash, come down and wipe his hands.
But yesterday, something was different. The floor was wet 💦
While he excitedly hurried to the sink, he tripped the slippery marble floor, experienced a pretty nasty fall on his head 🤕, and cried in pain 😭.
As parents, our response in the aftermath these moments play a huge role in educating them about confronting adversities.
🙄Ignore them, and you might leave them feeling isolated and abandoned.
😱Show an overbearing concern, and they might imprint this moment as a traumatic incident, possibly even suffering PTSD associated with that action or location.
🛡️Become too overprotective - lecture them, shielding them from further attempts, or insisting to help them - and you might subconsciously teach them that "I am not capable" by robbing them from grit and self-learning.
What do you do?
The key is to always make them feel supported and cared for. While at the same time, assisting them overcome their fears so they can have the confidence to stand up on their two feet.
After calming him down with a hug and confirming there were no persisting injuries, I immediately went with him to the "incident site", investigated and debriefed what happened.
"Oh, Muawiyah, the floor was wet! That's why it was slippery, and then you fell down!"
He looked with curiosity, as I wiped the floor in front of him to provide reassurance. "okay Muawiyah, it's not slippery anymore! You want to wash your hands now?"
"Yup"
He climbed up the plastic stool, washed his hands, and jumped down like a boss 😎.
Alhamdulillah PTSD averted 😅
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