A two year old kid runs about, trips and crashes to the floor. She is in pain and starts crying. The adults console her saying, "Uh..oh, now, now, don't cry.. you hurt yourself.. come on..". As an adult, when you hurt yourself, the unwritten rule is: you should not compain. (In other words, you were an ass and you deserved it. So shut up.) As adults we unconsciously assume kids too know this rule when we say "you hurt yourself". Please give up this self-serving phrase. It ain't working.
I am home. The two year old niece fell down and is crying. Her grandmother's "You hurt yourself" is adding confusion to her pain. The decibel level and frequency of her wails are increasing...
More like this
I came across this interesting poll of the NJ Senate race. It appears that just mentioning the Iraq War hurts Republicans, even popular ones:
A poor surgeon hurts one person at a time. A poor teacher hurts thirty.
- Ernest Leroy Boyer
Kids, before we watch the video, I have to tell you: I just got a flu shot the other day and it did not hurt even a tiny little bit. That's because the needle is very small and your neurons .... that feel the pain ... are far apart. So, many times the shot does not hurt, sometimes it does.
Most people feel safe at home, but statistically it's not the safest place to be, at least in terms of being injured (here injury includes not only trauma but poisoning, but if we restrict it to trauma probably little is changed).
Hah! Perhaps a better thing to say to a two year old when she hurts herself and starts to cry, is a lengthy scientific explanation on tears... which will distract her from the pain, and she will most probably get bored, and run off to play again, forgetting her pain. Or, she could become extremely interested - and voila! You may have another scientist in the making. :)
Now I am just rambling nonsense.