Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Strong Sitting and Other Stuff

In answer to yesterday's questions:
  • Strong sitting is a technique to help children switch which part of the brain they are using. They sit still, with their backs straight, and their arms relaxed. Most people I have heard of strong sit on a mat. The goal is one minute per year of age and three times a day. The child sits quietly and you can suggest what they should think about or just let them get in touch with their feelings. I use chairs because you can carry it over to public places and use it when they need to take it down a notch or when you just need two minutes of uninterrupted time (such as registering kids for school). We practice several times a day, when we don't go out, so that they don't have to think about what to do when I need them to do it.
  • Eye contact is a very important piece of the attachment process. Hope has it with the Dad, but would strongly prefer he was the only parent. The only way I get eye contact is with sweets. The idea is that with enough practice, she will pair the good feelings of the sweets with my eyes. 
  • At this point, I am the only one providing meals and treats. We have not gotten to the point Hope tolerates me. It will be interesting to see how long it takes.
  • Hope fell and skinned both knees yesterday.There was enough blood, it needed a bandage. Not a tear or scream. She laughed! I washed it off, which made her mad and got the response "Don't touch me". I told this was a mommy job, dried it off and put an impressively large band aid on it.
  • MK flipped yesterday. As a result, both girls were off all after noon. More on the other blog.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you. I get it now and the strong sitting sounds very useful.

Mom 4 Kids said...

Wow, all that you have on your plate at this moment in time just blows me away! You are doing a great job with little Hope and I am so looking forward to watching her attachment unfold!