Mafe Maria: Personal stories by autism parent mentor, Maria Stultz

Rottweilers and Two-Year-Olds

I once heard that Rottweilers lock their jaws when they bite…

Nap time is approaching, so I offer Joaquin his toothbrush. Of course, he’s busy playing with clothes hangers, and he decides that he doesn’t have time to brush. He drops the toothbrush and I threaten him with a serious brush your teeth or I’ll do it for you. This trick worked fantastically several months ago, so Joaquin’s indifference pushes me to dig in the storage box and pull out the very scary pink finger brush. I put it on my index finger and go at Joaquin like YOU’RE GOING TO BE SORRY AND WILL WISH YOU HAD BRUSHED YOUR OWN TEETH IN THE FIRST PLACE…

Bad idea.

Never, ever, EVER, EVER do something that stupid because… that dog will bite you (and he will lock his jaws!)

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3 comments:

  1. On , Jan wrote:

    Well – Maria!

    Let’s say you’re in the middle of writing HTML for a client. You promised your husband yesterday you’d help him clean out the garage.

    He walks in and demands you help him NOW. How willing are you to drop whatever you’re doing and run out to do what you had promised? And if you do, how happy are you going to be about it?

    You want to at least wrap up what you’re doing at that moment, right? Why would a 2 year old be different?

    What worked really well with my son is when we started giving him a time-frame and a chance to wrap up whatever he was involved in.

    “5 minutes until brushing time” – followed by “2 minutes until teeth brushing” and a “30 seconds and we start our teeth brushing” warning will do miracles.

    It’ll give him a chance to mentally prepare for what’s coming and finish whatever he was involved in.

    Remember, 2 year old boys eventually turn into 15 year old teenagers :)

  2. On , Maria wrote:

    HTML? What is that? HA! HA!

    Great metaphor, Jan. Now in my defense, I must clarify that Joaquin has always brushed his teeth while playing with hangers right before his nap, but that particular day he was not willing to multi-task. Guess he wanted full concentration like I do when I code.

    Your tip is great. Last summer I used some version of it to end play time with the garden hose. “Joaquin, I’ll count to 10 and then you’ll be done playing with the hose”. By the time I said 10 he would let go of it without any fuss.

    Thank you for the reminder, and for stopping by. Hope all is going well for you…

  3. On , Petie wrote:

    oh no! ouch. :(