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From: sewilco@mecc.UUCP (Scot E. Wilcoxon)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: Re: Child biting
Message-ID: <365@mecc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Oct-85 18:43:22 EDT
Article-I.D.: mecc.365
Posted: Thu Oct 10 18:43:22 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 19:36:42 EDT
References: <183@drutx.UUCP>
Reply-To: sewilco@mecc.UUCP (Scot E. Wilcoxon)
Organization: MN Ed Comp Corp, St. Paul, MN
Lines: 32
Summary: Simple safety lesson...hot water to teach HOT and HURT

In article <183@drutx.UUCP> slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden) writes:
>>I bit her back - not hard to hurt but
>>it left a slight impression.
>
>I hate to say this, but I was cured of biting.  My mother bit
>me back "hard to hurt".  It was a great object lesson in how
>...
>I still remember it.  There was this sudden flash that other
>people had feelings just like me...

I used a similar method after our boy started to walk and understand
us.  He needed to learn to stay away from the hot stove, but it
seemed unlikely he'd remember why.  Fortunately, this coincided with
one of his stages where he connects words immediately with concepts.

So I filled a cup with hot water.  Not hot enough to scald, but
hot enough to be uncomfortable.  I asked him to touch it gently (he
understood "gently") and then was able to explain what "hot"
meant, why he should stay away from stove, and as a bonus, what "hurt"
means.  (No, I'm not cruel.  Reread what I just said.)

You parents and linguists know why I left for later the precision
of warm/hot and uncomfortable/hurt...All he needed were the
concepts.

I had not expected that he'd immediately start identifying food
as being "hot" or "not hot".  He was able to quickly learn to
cool his food down on his own.  Aren't kids smart?
-- 

Scot E. Wilcoxon	Minn. Ed. Comp. Corp.      circadia!mecc!sewilco
45 03 N / 93 15 W	(612)481-3507 {ihnp4,uwvax}!dicomed!mecc!sewilco