KISS IT!!
When my son was little we decided we didn't want to go broke buying band-aids. He had started a phase where he always had "owies" and wanted band-aids so We started to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the "owie" and off he would go. Some days he needed many kisses as everything seemed to hurt - other days he was a tough little guy. As he got older he needed the reassurance and comfort less and less.
When he was three and a half, I enrolled him in gymnastics a.k.a. super-hero training school! He is an energetic kid and this seemed perfect for him. I wanted him to learn to line-up without pushing or cutting in front of others, to listen to an instructor, I saw this as training for entering kindergarten.
In the beginning of the session, he had bumps and bruises from his "enthusiastic" behaviour and came to the side to visit me for his kiss and hug. As the session progressed so did his confidence and he came to me less often.
One day he was walking the balance beam and feeling pretty confident. OK, he was over confident. The next thing I see is my son falling on the balance beam - one leg to each side.
Yowl!!
We all heard the yowl! People in the next town heard the yowl!
He came running over to me, holding his favourite appendage and was yelling, "KISS IT!!"
Wow - never saw that coming. Kiss it? Here in front of all the people?
"KISS IT!!"
I blew kisses. Nope, not good enough.
I blew more kisses... nope.
I kisses him on the tummy, nope.
Lots of hugs, almost.
"Why won't you kiss it?"
Hmmm. "Hey, how about we go and get a candy from the machine?
"Candy?"
Phhew!
