Coach Your Baby Brave

Ever have a child who was afraid to do anything new and fun or even not so fun but necessary? Recently my daughter's dental appointment revealed that she has serious teeth issues in her back molars. She is only four and has no business having four cavities. There is one in each of her back teeth, but the rest of her teeth are perfectly fine. Well, the time came to set up her appointment to have crowns put on those teeth.

She wasn't having it. She wouldn't sit in the chair, lay in the chair, as a matter of fact, she ended up on my lap just for the cleaning. After trying to rationalize why she needed to calm down and stop clinging to me like a monkey baby in the forest, I gave up. The dentist wasn't willing to force the issue either.

So I immediately went into coach mode. I began to remind her of all of the times she had been brave. All the way up until her appointment, I coached her and applauded her for being brave with different things.

She began to tell on her own how brave she was. We'd discuss how brave she'd be when she went back to the dentist. She even started coaching herself. Today was the day we'd find out if the coaching had paid off.

We went to the dentist and she seemed very calm and not worried at all. We made our way back to that special "quiet room" where the terrified kids go so they don't scare the crap out of the rest of the patients.

Well, my baby hopped right up in that dental chair and handled her business like a pro. She chose the "bubble gum flavored nose"(laughing gas). As I sat in the chair in the corner grinning from ear to ear about how brave my little sweety was being, the laughing gas began to kick in. I watched as the dentist shot my baby's jaw with numbing agents and she really didn't feel a thing. WOW!

I kept watching as my daughter began to wave her hand at me as she followed the dentists instructions. She was the perfect patient. She never cried. She didn't try to escape out of the nearby window. She didn't even request that I hold her hand. She is officially brave. So. . .I guess I can add "Coach" to my resume now as well huh?