"Good"Like mommy's roses I want you to see in your mind that your arm is changing from red to pink, like from apples to roses"Can you do that with me?"
"Yeah""
"And as it turns pink, it can get lighter and lighter, and cooler and more and more comfortable until it's as pale and comfortable as your other arm""
And thus, the shift begins--from pain to comfort, from crisis to calm, from depending on only the external to developing an internal mechanism for self-control, self-regulation, and self-soothing.
I've seen this happen many times, particularly when I worked with kindergarten children. Once they learn a new technique, they use it in ways that are surprising and downright innovative.
I had one child come running into my office. "Ms. Acosta! Ms. Acosta!"
"What happened, Raul?"
"I did it again!!!!"
He was so proud of himself and so excited.
"What did you do?"
"Well, that thing we did when I picked out the magic Band-Aid and I stopped the bleeding all by myself"?"
"I remember," I said.
"Well, I did it again after Jason pushed me and I scratched my knee and it doesn't hurt anymore. Look!" He pointed to a bruise on his knee, scraped and dirty, but not bleeding.
"You did a great job!" I was honestly impressed. "I think you did so good a job that now you can help the nurse clean it up and make it perfect. What do you say?"
And we did. He was a marvelous helper to the nurse. But more importantly, he learned to help himself. His favorite saying after that was "I'm a really good healer."
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