My 3 First Aid Tips for Kids (3-Minute Mommy Peptalk)
3 unusual ways I make my kids’ challenges disappear.
Over my last 2 decades of being a mom I’ve learned some unusual techniques to help out my kids when they are facing challenges.
These are the secret contents of my JewishMOM first-aid kit, which I use before I start taking my kids for professional help.
And, surprisingly often, my first-aid kit actually ends up nipping the problem in the bud.
So here you go:
First Aid Tip #1: When one of my kids complains about a teacher or a classmate who doesn’t like them or isn’t being nice to them, I tell them that I have a secret way to get this person to stop bothering them, and it always works.
On the way to school, they need to pray for that irritating person.
For example, this morning my daughter told me that a girl in her class has been bothering her, and I told her, “Pray for her that she be happy, that she get good grades, that she will have a great Purim costume, etc.”
I’ve been having my kids do this for at least 15 years, and in my experience it nearly always works to make irritating people mysteriously become much, much nicer.
First Aid Tip #2:
My 1st grader was having a very difficult time with a kid in his class who was driving him crazy.
So I tried Approach #1, but maybe he was too little, cause it didn’t work at all. So I spoke with his teachers, and that didn’t help so much either.
So one day, as he was leaving for school, I told him, “Listen, I want to tell you something very important. Eema’s blessings always work. Always! You can ask your siblings, and they will tell you it’s true! I am blessing you that nobody will be able to irritate you today. And they will try and they will try, but they will not succeed!”
And, it really worked. 100%. My son went from being a kid who hated school to a kid who started liking school, or at least now he thinks school is OK, which is a dramatic improvement.
With this approach, remember, it isn’t enough to just bless your child. You also need to convince him or her that your blessings are a sure thing, they really work!
I don’t know if this approach works because blessings actually work, or because of the placebo effect because my kids are convinced that they work. But, I guess it doesn’t really matter, cause it works!
First Aid Tip #3: This is another winner, which I’ve used only once, but with remarkable, mindblowing results.
Take a photograph of one of your children who is struggling. You can only do this for one child at a time.
Spend two minutes a day looking at your child’s eyes in that photograph, and speaking with him as though he has already overcome his struggles.
Let’s say, for example, that your child is failing school. So every day, for 2 minutes, you look into your child’s eyes in the photo, and tell him, “I am so proud of you, you are doing so much better in school. I see that you are working hard, and investing in your studies, and your grades show it!”
A warning with this approach. Soon after you start, there will be a crisis with your child. Things will get worse before they get better. But just keep on going, and things will get better, G-d willing!
Happy Purim, JewishMOMs!
Amazing! There is a lot of wisdom in these gems!