The other morning was... 'difficult'. We had pressed each other's buttons. An emotional meltdown was in full swing and I only had a few moments before we were supposed to be in the car going to school.
So I sat him in a chair, gave him a notebook and pen, and said; "Make marks. Whatever marks you want to make." He immediately calmed down, and threw his full focus into the pen and paper. He made marks on the paper, and was ready to get in the car and go to school after a few minutes.
Of course, he made some fairly pointed marks:
But it worked. Meltdown averted. Balance regained. Ability to move on with life attained.
How did I know to put a pen and paper in his hands?
Because it is what works for me when I am on the verge of a meltdown.
I figured, it would work for my son too.
(For you entertainment, a glimpse at some recently marked pages of my own:)
6 comments:
i honestly LOVE this. I want to remember this as Noah grows...
thank you emily :)
i figure this tactic may work well for a good number of individuals!
(hug!)
I'm going to have to remember this for T. I'm not visually artistic the way you and he are, but T and I are still similar in many ways. We know how to push each others' buttons. Hopefully this will help him a) calm down when shit's rough and b) learn to channel his emotions into his art (at 7 and a half--gah, 8 in less than a month-- he's already telling me that he sometimes just doesn't know what to draw. Oh, the drama! ;-P ).
lessie~ *Drama* Oy yah. Yep, I know. Hugs and good luck to you, finding what works w/ T.
Tried this with my daughter over the weekend and it worked really well. She drew two pictures, one "I am sad" and "I am mad". It's true, she was both sad and mad, and not able to calm down. After drawing, she was able to move on with the day.
Thank you for this post.
oh Aerin, I'm so glad!
thank *you* for letting me know :)
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