Let’s start by saying; I am not an expert with clinical or behavioral training. All I have is thirty-three years experience of doing some wrong things! That’s right, I have made plenty of wrong choices when raising our son. The trick is to learn from our mistakes; however, that usually comes years later.
I remember a certain young mother who accidentally set her kitchen trash can on fire (no, not my mom or my wife) and she was frantically trying to put the fire out, with no success. She yelled at her 5-year-old son to open the back door. Well, just so happens, he was more concerned about the cookie in his hand than the door.
As you can expect, the mother was highly agitated at this time, and she then yelled, “forget about the *#@?-ing cookie and OPEN the Door.”
With the fiery trash can outside and extinguished, pulse rate settled, and the cookie eaten, that would have been a perfect time to explain to the 5-year-old the seriousness of the situation. Not sure it was explained.
We as adults have to realize our children aren’t aware of dangers as we are. As parents, we have to remember sometimes how important a cookie is to a 5-year-old.
The good news is, there was no fire damage, no personal injury, and everyone is safe. I am sure that mother has since looked back, and realized the Unseen Rewards of the event.
Children imitate the actions and words of their parents, and accept their priorities, or mostly so. The Unseen Rewards of this event are to help the child realize, and likely not forget, that –
Fire is serious.
Action should be taken quickly when there is a fire.
Adults can take action to successfully put out a fire.
Mom puts a priority on safety over cookies.
Every event helps a child learn life’s priorities.