Be Specific - words to live by
Both of my kids love gum. It occupies their mouths - which reduces the non stop stream of consciousness that pours from them. My oldest was five before the first gum experience. My youngest started at age three. Little bit was in speech therapy already to work on coordinating suck-swallow-breathe (she was more of a breathe while swallowing girl which resulted in choking for her and gray hairs for me and dad) and the speech therapist thought it might help her learn how to chew on the sides of her mouth (another skill she hadn’t mastered yet). SO, I let her try gum much earlier than I planned. They were very small pieces to begin with and gradually, as she demonstrated mastery (aka stopped swallowing the gum), we let her have Trident size pieces of gum. Since my ears sometimes need a break from the constant chatter and dueling conversations between myself and each child (seriously - when do they learn to take turns talking?!) gum flows freely in my house. We buy it in bulk from Costco (I’m not exaggerating). The other night the little one had a last minute piece of gum before bed. Don’t ask me WHY she HAD to have this piece of gum, but she did. And honestly, it wasn’t worth the ensuing battle so soon before bedtime. Just prior to our usual book and snuggle time, I said the following (insert rookie mistake here) “You need to get rid of your gum before bedtime”. She ran out of my bedroom, disposed of the gum, and returned. Both of my cherubs passed out, and as I rounded the corner to head downstairs, I saw this...
Apparently the wall is as good a place as any to "get rid of your gum".
Guess I should have been more specific with her.
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