Strangely enough, I don’t think my kids have ever seen Dumbo. At this point, I think it is a good thing. Since I had to take a parenting tip from the movie, I think I will try to keep the kids away from it for a while.
Z, being the deep thinker that he is, has acquired a fear of throwing up at school. Of course I agree with him that if it happened, it would be terrible, but he has gotten so worried about it that he almost starts panicking in the car on the way to school. One day last week, I actually had to turn around and go home because he had himself so worked up that he might get sick, that I was afraid he might actually get sick, leading to more problems…
Anyway, I was getting really worried about how to handle this new anxiety. It escalated again before his first soccer practice, when he panicked that he might get sick at soccer. Then I thought of our “magic” sea bands. I told him that those special bracelets would make it where he wouldn’t have a stomach ache, and certainly wouldn’t throw up. He put them on excitedly, and has worn them for the last 6 days.
This morning he accidentally left them at home. I was tempted to let him get through the day just to show him that he was fine, but as he got out of the van trying to bravely wipe away tears, I just couldn’t do it. I went right home to get the sea bands for him. He seemed absolutely fine when I got to school, but I was glad that I went back anyway. I guess eventually he will figure out for himself that he doesn’t actually need the sea bands. Then I will let him watch Dumbo…
