HALT! Is my baby a Dr. Jekyl/Mrs. Hyde? or what?
I continually bow to the wisdom of my friends and family (many are seasoned parents). My good friend, Karen, gave me this succinct summary of baby's crankiness and how to deal with it recently when I complained of a diet heavy in whine ...
H-A-L-T. It stands for Hunger Anger Loneliness and Tiredness. The idea is that after checking for physical reasons for whining and fussiness, you should HALT and think of those four words. You're sure to find an answer, if not a solution.
Works like a charm to calm (me anyway, if not Josie : ) Even when I can't imagine she could be hungry or tired, she sometimes is. The lonelies and anger I sometimes can't help with, but at least I get where Mrs. Hyde is coming from.
Karen says that even with her three, who are 9-16, the HALT explanation still works. (I think it works at 45, too ...) Thanks!
2 comments:
You know, sometimes they are just cranky and can't tell you about it.
They have the the benefit of expressing what we all feel sometimes without worrying about what other people will think.
Don't you just wish you could sometimes whine like that?
You're so sweet--it's not like I came up with it.
It's hard that they can't tell you what's bothering them.
Of course, they sometimes can't verbalize it when they're sixteen, too.
Sometimes I'm just crabby, come to think of it. (sometimes?!? ha!)
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