Nigh Nigh Time. Pacifier Please!
Chandler is a con man. Con…toddler. Chandler knows that the only time we give him a pacifier now is if he is sleeping. Throughout our trip to see my parents, anytime he has been in a stroller or a car seat, he has said, “Nigh nigh time. Pacifier please!”
Of course no night nighting ever happens. He just sits there with his pacifier chilling and enjoying the ride.
We’re trying to get completely off the pacifiers. That process really takes a lot of discipline. The discipline is less on Chandler’s end and more on our end. It is so easy to just stick something in your kid’s mouth and and instantly get some peace and quiet.
The same thing goes for iPhones, iPads, and TV. It is such a weight off our shoulders to be able to hand Chandler a device, or plop him on the couch and gain some precious downtime.
But I find myself resisting that at every turn. I myself am an Internet junkie, movie fanatic, and love pretty much anything digital. So I am by no means against the idea of my son using technology. But I really don’t like the idea of him being dependent on anything.
I don’t want him to need his Mommy, or a blankie, or a pacifier, or an ice cold can of Mt Dew to make him happy.
Obviously he is just a 2-year-old and he will need certain things in his life to make him feel safe. I’m not a monster. But I will always be nudging him out of his comfort zones and trying to teach him to find happiness and contentment within himself rather than from something tangible.
Maybe if I can successfully teach him that, it will rub off on me too.
