Experimenting on your kids
Come on, we have all done it. We read something interesting, don't know if it will work, so when we get a chance we give that new idea a test drive on the track that we call "innocent (unknowing) children". I had such a moment the other night with our oldest.
Sara Kate had been in bed for a while, under threat of sever punishment if she got out. Of course, as I had expected she got out of bed, having "forgotten" that she was supposed to say in bed. I can see how she might forget, I mean, ever night as I tuck her in I say, "now, don't get out of bed unless you are bleeding or there is a fire". But I digress.
Sara Kate got out of bed and as I sat there attempting to keep my patience she quickly said, "Daddy I really need to tell you something." Of course, like any good dad, I didn't believer her (she always has to tell me something), but I did (like any good dad) humor her and ask her what she needed. She went on to tell me that she had a bug bite and it was really itching badly. LIGHT BULB MOMENT! I have an experiment I want to try for this!
Earlier that night I had just read a Lifehacker article about how to alleviate a bug bite with a warm spoon. So, naturally I was eager to try out this new and unusual method on my child.
So, I had sort of a Bill Cosby moment and said, "oh, I think I can help with that!" and we walked into the kitchen to get a spoon. I sat her up on a counter and told her that I was going to put the spoon under warm water and then put in on her skin and that the itching will stop for good. What can I say, in all experiments that I conduct I like to try to persuade the experimentee (I know, not a real word) that the experiment will work, thus stacking the deck in my favor.
We went through the process and sure enough, it worked, no more itching! So, now I have a happy child, who now things I'm pretty awesome, and we know how to alleviate itchy bug bites easily! Win, win, win!
Have you ever done a similar experiment with your kid? Please tell me about it in the comments.
