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                                                                                                     The Other Feet

My son was at the age where he loved to try and put clothes on by himself. It didn’t matter what article of clothing it was, or how difficult it was to put on, he struggled with it until he succeeded or he was near death from strangulation. These attempts often left him wrapped and twisted. He could often be found rotating in circles with one arm pointed up in the air with the other trapped in the tight wraps of his shirt. His head would be stuck half way up one sleeve, with the excess draped over his head as if he were a pint sized elephant.

One day we were going to go for a drive to run some errands. He wanted to ride along, so I told him to get himself ready. I came out the front door and saw my son sitting on the steps. He had gotten his jacket on, but had a problem with his shoes. As is quite common, he had gotten his left shoe on his right foot, and his right shoe on his left foot. I looked down at him and said “Hey silly, you’ve got to put your shoes on your other feet”. He looked up at me with a puzzled look and said “But dad, I don’t have any other feet!”

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A Day In The Life Of An Average American Family (Page 10)
                                                                                           Sure You Sleep With Dad

There comes an age with children, when they gain awareness of realities that they are oblivious too at a younger age. My son liked to hang out and observe his older sister and her friends. He would watch them dance, or play games, or observe them as they watched their favorite movies.

Now, occasionally his sister would watch a scary show that would not be appropriate for him. This was of little concern to us however, because he didn’t understand or find the movie of any interest. He seldom paid any attention to the show, but rather in the events around the room. The activities of the girls huddled together, and screaming at the appropriate time, were of much more interest to him than anything on the TV.

This was the case up until a certain age. One night, we found he was afraid to sleep by himself. We asked him why he was afraid. He said he had seen something scary on TV. We now knew we had to monitor what he saw on TV, but this didn’t really help us solve the immediate dilemma. 

Now we had to make him understand that TV was fiction, and that everything on it was just pretend. It was something that we watched for fun. Some things, children his age shouldn’t watch because children didn’t understand it was all pretend. I went on to explain how Halloween was dress up, and that we had once used ketchup on his hand to pretend it was bleeding. This is what TV was like. Everyone on it was pretending, and dressing up like Halloween.

Of course, rationalizing with a four-year-old seldom has the effect that parents hope for. He said he understood but was still too scared to sleep by himself. Mom was quick to add to the rationalization by saying “You don’t need to be scared of sleeping by yourself, this is your home and you have your family and Mickey (his dog) here to keep you safe.” He looked up at mom with disbelieving eyes and with a disgusted voice said "Sure mom, you’re not scared, you get to sleep with Dad!”