BALLOONS

You can read all the books, take the advice, put in the hours, be the parent of the year and out of the blue something comes along to challenge everything you think you know about your child and how to handle their temperament. Toddler mood swings, assertions of independence, discovery of the outside world - all that stuff can be handled, it has a certain logic to it. For my 2 and a half year old son James, logic gets it coat and strides off into the night however, where balloons are concerned. Yes, balloons. The merest sight of a fully blown balloon reduces James to heaving sobs, streaming snot and tearful cries of "I want to go home!" He is inconsolable. Soothing whispers, bribery, toughing it out - nothing works.

It started innocently enough at a birthday party we attended around a year ago. Much to my horror a clown had been arranged. I'll come out and say that I'm not a great fan of clowns. The sight of a paunchy middle aged man with a three day beard and a polka dot shirt pulling plastic flowers out of his comedy trousers is not the kind of humour I think children should be subjected to. You don't see The Wiggles resorting to clown tricks to get the laughs. Bob The Builder doesn't have a clown friend. Anyway, back to the birthday party clown. James was quite enjoying the display of water-squirting flowers and disappearing handkerchiefs until the clown started making balloon animals. At the sound of the balloons squeaking and rubbing together poor James lost it completely. No sooner had his face creased in worry, he was at Mach 10 crying and trying to bury his face in my armpit. We had to leave. At the time I put it down to a combination of clown antics and balloon-noise. Incident forgotten.

Ok so my turn to ask a question? Hmm lately (last month) Pyper has been having what looks like acne breakout next to her nose. We have tried a few things but would like to know if anyone else's child is having this problem, she normally has beautiful skin but it has changed around her mouth lately.

Let me know if anyone has come across any remedies we can use to get rid of it? She is only 16 months old so shouldn't be too much of a problem!

-Scott

Greetings! Today I’m sharing an interview with Abel Cheng of www.parentwonder.com on fathering from May 24, 2007:

1. Usually children are closer to mom for some reason. For a dad, how does he overcome this and form a closer bond with a child?
It’s important to understand that Dads get close to kids in their own way. It all depends on how we define “closeness.” Dads form a bond with their kids by doing things with them and sharing experiences. Mothers often are the ones that kids will go to when they have a problem or when they want to share their day, but Dads can be involved in that too. All they need to do is to listen well, not judge too much, and to share some of their life with their kids too.

2. How do we not lose our temper when our kids misbehave?

By Bill

As the parent of a toddler I’m continuously shocked by my misconceptions of what kind of parent I was going to be back when I was yet to have one. It’s something we all go through when we start thinking about kids. I remember seeing a parent lose control once at a retail store and thinking “If that was my kid there would be none of that. No sir! My child will know who the boss is” Which didn’t turn out to be too far from the truth, because let’s face it we both know he’s the boss. I’d visit friends with children and look around in amazement at the warehouse of toys that dared to take over their entire home. Again I’d say, “My child will know the joys of playing outside. Forget video games and personal DVD players. My child will like to read and will be able to carry on an actual conversation without referring to Pokeman or Yugi-o” Two years later Blue and Steve seem to be on an endless hunt for the latest clue and it’s a wonder the wonder pets ever get turned off.