When you become a parent you can’t help but worry. Is your baby okay? Are you doing a good enough job? It’s a natural thing I suppose. Though I think it’s important not to let your child know this.
Since having Caspian I’ve been giving a lot of thought to what I want to pass on to him. Plus the things I hope not to. Having seen how a parent’s personal fears can affect a child’s confidence or how their encouragement can make them flourish I’m determined not to let my inhibitions and trepidations get in the way of Caspian’s development. Unfortunately, I’ve never been fearless when it comes to physical achievements. Where I have taken great leaps mentally by relocating to another country far from friends and family, pursuing my dreams first as an actor and now as a blogger and photographer I’ve always been a wimp when it has had anything to do with heights or great speeds.
Caspian loves climbing, running and going head first down the slide. At only two years old he’ll happily dive off the bed and jump off the top of the stairs into your arms (whether you are prepared for it or not). I love seeing his courage and will try to never stand in his way of living life to the fullest.
Though as with everything he will stumble from time to time and that’s when I’ll be there to pick him up, dust him off and make sure to turn his tears into smiles in minutes.
MAKING MY BOY SMILE AGAIN WITH THE HELP OF ELASTOPLAST
I recently read that at his age children believe everything is alive. It’s adorable and might explain why he shares his snacks with his toy cars or puts his stuffed animals to bed. Seeing him upset physically pains me, so when he started moving about and therefore also started bumping into things I made up a little game. It really wasn’t something I had thought through. It just happened one day and it made him laugh so much that he forgot about the bump and started giggling. So what do I do?
I tell off whatever he’s hurt himself on. If he’s fallen over, the floor gets a telling off. If he’s bumped his head on something I’ll make sure to say ‘what a naughty, naughty door handle’ that is. It works every time.
With every day he gets faster and with summer just around the corner, I suspect we’ll see more cuts, grazes and bruised knees over the coming months as Caspian plays and explores outside. Giving the pavement a good talking to might not be enough though. Plus it will make me look like a bit of a nutter to anyone walking past, so I’ll need a few more tricks up my sleeve.
NEW RANGE FROM ELASTOPLAST
I want him to be fearless. I want him to explore. Mostly I want him to smile and be happy. We love having Elastoplast to hand and the new character plasters featuring Frozen and Star Wars are a hit and will definitely be a great help in soothing him after an accident.
The distraction of the fun and friendly faces. Plus we found that they are easy to get off, too, so no pain in ripping off this bandaid. With close to 100 years experience in turning tears into smiles Elastoplast has a great range of products perfect for any first aid kit.
When your little one tumbles and has an accident I think it’s mainly important to stay calm, assess the situation, clean them up and use a plaster if needed. Give them lots of cuddles to make them feel safe and think of ways to distract them and take their minds of the pain.
How do you turn tears into smiles?
The magical powers of plasters hey! I always have a stock of special ones in to stop the tears!