Clara LOVES Sarah-Jane, but she doesn't understand how to be gentle. She constantly wants to love on her and play with her, and I am going crazy trying to keep Sarah-Jane safe. How do I teach Clara how to be gentle with the baby?... It doesn't feel right to punish her, when she isn't being rough on purpose- she just has no idea how strong she is. It also doesn't feel right to not let her near the baby. Any ideas/advice? Thanks!
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Does she like babydolls? We gave Evelyn her own baby doll when Claire was born so she could be 'mommy' to her own baby. She would feed her baby when I fed Claire, she would rock her baby when I would rock Claire..etc. And now that Claire is old enough and strong enough to somewhat defend herself now I let the girls play together. I know exactly what you mean though - it's tough to teach them to be gentle and soft. Evelyn just liked getting a reaction from the baby - whether it was a smile, laugh or cry - she learned that Claire would react when Evelyn would poke, prod, grab, pull, hold, hug, kiss...! It worked for me when I saw Evelyn start to get rough, I would tell her to go and get her baby and we can play with our babies together. It actually got to be pretty cute with her carrying around a babydoll everywhere the new baby was. Hopefully, Clara will be soft soon!!
Let me know if you get any great advice. Megan's one and Than still doesn't know how to be soft. Evelyn is 5 and still has problems being soft with her too.
Sounds like you guys might need a puppy?! wink wink! No, but seriously practice around kitties and puppies has helped Addie learn to "be soft".
I am having the same problem. I just try to be REALLY positive with him when he is gentle. If he does something to hurt Rogan I put him in his crib or time out in the corner so that he knows it is serious. One of my friends reminded me that babies are more sturdy than they look, so that helped me a little, but it really does feel like a 24 hour job just keeping the big one off of the little one. Let me know if you find anything that works well.
When I had Maya - Max was 2. It took about 2 months for him to learn soft and constantly reminding him. I know that Clara wants to love Sarah Jane so much. Sorry that I don't have any magic fixes.
I really don't have much advice as I don't have this problem, but I do remember my cousin giving us "love pats" instead of hugs and kisses. A love pat was a light pat on the cheek- maybe you could teach Clara to do that instead of a hug or kiss? (but you might end up with her giving Sarah Jane a black eye instead of suffocating her...) But if you ever find a solution, let us all know!
Oh, the perils of being a second child! It sounds like Sarah-Jane will grow up to be a tough cookie. I don't remember this phase lasting very long, so hopefully it will pass quickly for you, too. In the meantime, I would just suggest that when you're asking Clara to be soft that you take her hand and show her what you mean. Or have a special thing she can do for SJ like rub the bottom of her foot or something else safe. Good luck!
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