Page 22 - Oct Nov 2017

Elite Investigative Journal
Teaching Children to Deal with Pain, pg 22-29
©2014-2017 SYT Global, Inc.
Teaching Kids to

Deal with Pain By Jill L. Ferguson

Thirty years ago, on a of his father, drove him the tears and curb the P

little league field in New to the emergency room. wailing. We are not in- O
York State a youngster The doctor pronounced tentionally trying to be L

injured his thumb when the thumb to be broken. At mean. Let’s face facts, our I
he was hit with the ball. home that evening, after child’s crying, when it is C
The coach, who was also being told that his son’s caused by injury, pains us. E

his father, looked at the thumb was broken, the fa- We do not want our chil-
digit, declared it couldn’t ther said he felt bad about dren to be hurt or to feel B

be too bad, so “be tough,” his hasty judgement. pain. We may go as far as R
and sent the kid back into thinking, if only I could U
the game. Moments later, Though this scene took take this pain from her or T

with his thumb turning place two decades ago, it him. A
a rainbow of shades and repeats itself (maybe un- L

expanding to three times der some variation) every A child who is seriously I
its usual size, the child’s year. Parents oftentimes ill or injured evokes sad T
mother yanked him off the brush off their children’s emotions and causes us Y

field, and over the protests pain in an effort to dam to think that life is un-

Photo Courtesy of google.com

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