Wildflower
Active Member
My difficult child is somewhat uncoordinated. Okay, so I'm being generous in my description of him. He's like a surrealist painting - arm over here, leg over that, nose on the side of someone else's face... Since he doesn't have a care in the world about other's personal space, I've had to find ways to approach this issue with him that are other than verbal ones.
We've tried a few tricks. Some have worked, other times I need to reinvent the wheel. One of the blessings of this site is discovering the amazingly creative ways people have done things.
To help with boundary issues at the dinner table, we have utilized place mats. We have also tried DeeRW's great trick of putting tea towels under each armpit and making it a game to see who can last through dinner without dropping the towel to the floor (also good for the elbows on the table issue). I can't remember who gets the credit for our latest trick, using hula hoops (Sonja?) to define space. We have two sizes: a big one for walking around, standing in lines, playing, etc. and a smaller one for dining times. difficult child gets a reward (dessert) for staying within the circle during meal-times.
I thought it might be fun to see what other's have done.
So, come on, what's in your bag of difficult child-taming tricks?
We've tried a few tricks. Some have worked, other times I need to reinvent the wheel. One of the blessings of this site is discovering the amazingly creative ways people have done things.
To help with boundary issues at the dinner table, we have utilized place mats. We have also tried DeeRW's great trick of putting tea towels under each armpit and making it a game to see who can last through dinner without dropping the towel to the floor (also good for the elbows on the table issue). I can't remember who gets the credit for our latest trick, using hula hoops (Sonja?) to define space. We have two sizes: a big one for walking around, standing in lines, playing, etc. and a smaller one for dining times. difficult child gets a reward (dessert) for staying within the circle during meal-times.
I thought it might be fun to see what other's have done.
So, come on, what's in your bag of difficult child-taming tricks?