Taking Deep Breaths

Before Benjamin was born, we attended a parenting seminar at our church called Parenting with Love and Logic. One of the key things that we learned from that was for dealing with whining voices. Basically you respond to a whining voice by saying "It's hard for me to understand what you're saying when you use that voice. Can you try to ask me again in a normal voice?"

As we started to use this technique with Benjamin, I found that the hardest part was to get him to stop crying when he was upset or overwraught about something he needed help with. So I decided to teach him how to take deep breaths. It started with me modeling it for him and asking him to repeat it after me. He did well and it wasn't too long before he would do it himself when I told him I couldn't understand his whining voice.

Now he uses them himself without us even having to say anything most of the time. I even see him do it sometimes when he's starting to get frustrated about doing something. He'll stop, take a couple deep breaths very dramatically, and then come ask Mindy or I for help. It's so exciting to watch him apply things he's learned in new ways and really start thinking for himself.