The Crib: A Blog for New Parents

Posted by kateriscribe on 04/22/08 - 12:23 PM

There have been times during the lives of my children, that I was appalled, embarrassed, frustrated, but mostly just amused by their behavior. I know for a fact that some of the things that my kids did, that I thought were funny would have made any other parent shudder with fear or humiliation. I know this because I have shuddered while the parent of some other kid laughed out loud at something their kid had done.

For example, I was speaking on the phone with a friend, who was recounting for me the tale of a recent car trip her family had taken. My friend has a little boy who is 2 years old, keep the age in mind. While on this trip, the little boy wanted out of his car seat, but my friend would not give in. So… little boy made himself throw up. To accomplish this, he stuck his finger down his throat. Of course, they had to stop at the nearest rest area to clean up little boy, the car seat, and the floor of the car. After which, they buckled him right back up in his car seat.

My first question was “Where did a 2 year old learn to do That?” My second question was, “did they take him to a doctor?” There is no possible way that forcing himself to vomit could not be damaging in some way. Either physically or psychologically. Now, I’ve been a parent for a very long time, and a childcare provider for longer than that. In all of these years, I have never heard of such a thing. I’ve seen children vomit because they were crying too hard for too long, I’ve seen children throw up from eating too much, too fast. Or because they were sick, playing too hard, ate or drank something they probably shouldn’t have, etc., etc.

My friend could not understand why this ‘cute’ story she told me had left me stunned. I could not understand how she could think it was funny. To me, this sounded horrible. The fact that a 2 year old would know how to do that, and would understand that doing so might get him what he wanted simply shocked me. Children learn from what they see, so little boy had to have seen that sort of thing, and more than once.

I’ve laughed at my kids when they got caught with a finger up their nose. I’ve laughed at my kids for doing something stupid, after I told them it was not a good idea. I’ve even laughed at my oldest daughter for walking into a wall because you shouldn’t read a book while walking. Sometimes the things our children do are funny or cute, and sometimes they aren’t.

If one of my kids had ever put a finger down her throat, (at any age) I would not have been laughing, I’d have calling therapists for the child and myself.