Hard or Soft

These days I often find myself having just done something around Ian and then kicking myself for not thinking things through first. A good case in point is throwing stuff. Every now and then we'll be goofing off and I'll playfully toss something at Ian, like a pair of socks or a stuffed animal. Then he'll giggle and retaliate by chucking something at me, like a wooden block or a toy car.

Of course having not thought things through earlier, it never occurred that he didn't yet have the ability to make good choices about just what could be thrown and what couldn't. Early on I tried to squash throwing completely, and did my best to never do it in front of him. I tried to get him to roll things on the ground rather than throw them. That sort of worked, but tossing things through the air is a pretty primal urge for kids, so sooner or later something else would go flying.

For a while I thought I might be able to convince him to ask me before he threw something so I could okay it, but that was one of those silly pipe dreams that's never going to actually happen. How was I supposed to explain the concept of what you can throw and what you can't?

Then it hit me. We went in his room and I rummaged through the toys shelves and made a big pile on the floor. Then I explained hard and soft. I picked up a big Lego and tapped, explaining that it was hard. Then I took a stuffed monkey and poked it, telling him it was soft. He went through the rest of the pile with no mistakes. Lastly I told him that he could always do a spot check by taking something and whacking himself on the head with it. If it hurt, then he probably shouldn't be throwing it.

That was a few months ago. So far everything seems to be working great. Occasionally he'll grab something and tap it on his head and tell me, "This is hard". Then amazingly he'll put it down without chucking it across the room. Ah, progress.

He got a little confused the other days when he was whacking himself in the head with a spatula. "This is soft," he said, pointing to the silicone tip. Then he bonked himself with the wooden handle. "But this is hard." Then he ran off and started beating things with it.

Close enough.