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PaperclipPerfector  8mo ago (text post)   2941 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for September 8, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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A new series of potentially re-occuring problems. How do you explain basic things to a young child.

In this week's edition: spitting.

Our four year old is brushing her teeth and we want to start using tooth pastes that you aren't supposed to swallow. They just need to spit it out.

Problem: she can't spit. How do you describe it?

Does describing things usually work with your kid?

Ours learned spitting from us demonstrating it. Though, to be fair, she mostly just lets it flow out by tilting her head down and letting gravity do the work.

She is pretty good at language, so yah describing usually helps, even if it's not always sufficient.

We did get her leaning over and letting the water fall out as part of the first step.

Have you tried demonstrating it? Maybe prompt "blow the water out".

internal mouth stuff happening that they can't see and copy. Also she will just stonewall us with these requests sometimes

"I can't".

"Could you try?"

"I can't"

"Just like blowing bubbles"

"I can't"

"Or blowing out candles"

"I can't"

"Come on, I've seen you do this before, I know you can"

starts crying

You could try tricking her into thinking it was her idea. When you are giving her a bath or shower tonight, have a little sharpspitting competition. Put on your 'silly daddy' face or whatever you call it, catch a bunch of water in your mouth from the faucet and spit at her rubber duckie or the cold tap, over emphasising every action comically and then vocally congratulate yourself for your aim - make a bit of a show of it, make it fun you know? She should try it herself then, in which case you carry on the competition until she doesn't have to think about it. If she asks you to hit another target though, brag about how you could definitely do it but you don't know if she could. Then do it, over emphasising again, and follow that by deciding she probably could do it, but it's not as easy as blowing bubbles! Curiosity should do the rest. Then with the toothpaste bet she can't hit the plug hole.

Fake edit: some people are funny about spit so I went with the least controversial method, but if you don't mind getting your saliva on your daughter or her saliva on you (and remember, she's in the bath/shower) it would work much better if you spit in her face (lol also ignore how it sounds) because it's a much more visceral shock and if you do your 'dad being funny' face she'll know it's fun and want to have fun with dad.

This may or may not work on children, but one thing I found useful when I worked in tech support and people refused to just do X is to ask "what happens / what do you observe when you try to do X" instead of saying "please do X", where X is some concrete specific action (e.g. "click the My Account menu item").

Spitting is represented onomatopoetically by the word patooey. The letters p and t accurately represent they way the lips and tongue are formed when spitting. First, the lips are pursed to make a p sound. Second, the tongue is pressed against the teeth to make a t sound. Pushing the tongue forward should also push saliva or toothpaste forward so that it collects behind the lips. Third, the diaphragm contracts to builds air pressure behind the tongue. Fourth, the tongue and lips open simultaneous to allow air to pass through. This amounts to making the p and t sounds simultaneously. Try telling your kid to, "go patooey!" I believe teaching her the word patooey may actually teach her to spit.

This is cool! Thanks

Well, spitting isn't absolutely necessary.

(1) Optionally, use a small cup to add some water to your mouth and swish it around (without swallowing).

(2) Lean over the sink. (I assume that a small child would stand on a stool.)

(3) Scrunch up your cheeks to squeeze the liquid out from between your teeth and your cheeks.

(4) Purse your lips as you would if you wanted to pronounce an "F" sound.

(5, easy) Just let the liquid drip out.

(5, medium) Use your tongue to push the fluid out.

(5, hard) Spit: (a) push the tip of your tongue through your lips, (b) build up a small amount of air/liquid pressure behind your tongue, and (c) pull your tongue back, allowing the pressure to push the fluid out.

We went with the (easy) method tonight. Though when I think about it, she should already know the (medium) method, since she does it quite successfully anytime she decides she doesn't want some food.

It was fun posing this question to our dentist and having him honestly stumped for a few moments before he came up with something to say.

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