It’s kind of amazing to me just how hard small children will
fight against things that are beneficial.
Neither my son nor daughter wants anything to do with having
their noses wiped. We all have runny
noses. As the adult in the story I’m the
only one who wants to use a tissue.
My three year old son is quick to run his sleeve against his
face after he sneezes leaving a disgusting trail of snot not only on his shirt
but across his cheek. When he see me approach
with a tissue he either runs away or curls up into a ball hiding his face from
me.
My 8 month old daughter not to be left out will sneeze and
then giggle as she blows mucus bubbles out her nose. When I pull out a tissue for her, she cannot
escape. This is not for lack of
trying. She alternates between flailing
like a fish out of water and a super-dense limp noodle seeking to aid gravity
in her quest to go from my lap to the floor.
(I do not drop the baby, she can try as hard to throw herself on her
head as she likes, it’s not happening on my watch.) When I finally succeed at cleaning her face
she acts like her nose has been amputated.
Never mind the fact that my children can noticeably breathe
better once my intervention is complete.
They think they don’t want it done.
Now this sort of struggle continues with damn near
everything!
Other parents who have been there look on with sympathetic
eyes and offer encouragement and tell me that I’m not alone. People who have never had kids frequently
look on as if I’m a Disney Villain on a quest to make my own children unhappy.
(Which as far as quests go would be amazingly stupid. I mean I’m around them
all day every day. And you can just
guess how much I enjoy the sound of screaming.)
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