If A Toddler Falls on His Face, And no Parent is There to See Him Fall, Does He Make a Sound?
Here’s my latest child-development experiment:
I see that Archer is about to hit his face on an edge or run straight into a wall, trip on a toy or his blankie, take a tumble off his Plasmacar (which I’m obsessed with, by the way. I seriously ride that thing to the bathroom every morning. It’s better than walking, that’s for sure) and instead of running toward him to be of comfort I make a b-line outta there. Out of the room, or the hall, or Archer’s view, so when he falls and looks for me to acknowledge his incident, I am nowhere to be found. He looks for me, readying himself for tears, and then seeing that I’m not looking at him, brushes himself off and keeps going about his business merrily.
Every. Single. Time.
So the answer is: yes– when a toddler falls on his face and a parent is not there to see him fall, he does NOT make a sound.
Because he’s a tough kid. They’re all tough kids. But they’re also tricky little suckers, humoring the fact that we’re all psycho-in-love, which is sweet and adorable and lovely, until about the 67817623th time.
Which is why, now, when Archer trips and falls I look the other way until he’s back on his feet. Up and running full speed ahead like nothing in the world could ever stop him.
And he’s right. Nothing can.
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And i thought my 22 month old was the only child completely oblivious to things like walls and huge dining room tables. its nice to hear that tripping over his own feet and walking into things is normal.
i’ll have to try to ignore him, cause he’s becoming quite the cry baby. thanks for the advice!
I have actually witnessed this phenomenon. My daughter has tripped, fallen, gotten up, calmly walked around until she spotted me and then began to cry. I spied on the whole affair from the top of the stairs. I just thought she was the world’s best actress…come to realize she is just 2.
When my son was 2 we were at a birthday party and he fell – I rushed over going “ohmigawsh are you ok????” and of course tears and screaming ensued. A very nice father approached me and said next time try telling him he’s ok instead of asking. Best. advice. ever. Works like a charm 99% of the time.
love it. My son is the same way.
We always tell Jillian to “walk it off” like she’s a football player or something. There’s a step-down from our dining area to our living room area and now that Jillian has learned to crawl, she falls off of the step about 32 times a day. It makes my heart stop every time (and it’s only 6 inches or so), but I force myself to ignore it unless she tumbles into the fireplace or something.