Family Matters
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Need 4YO Toenail Help!
I have a four year old who has always hated getting his toenails trimmed. We have never cut him, so I do not know where this is coming from. We used to be able to trim them at night while he slept or if/when if fell asleep in the carseat. Now he wakes up and starts crying. If you bring up toenails in conversation he gets upset. I feel like we have tried everything in the bathtub, giving him a warning, trying to get him to help, bribing. For a short period of time he would let my mother trim them, but now he won't even allow that. If I try to hold him down (which isn't an easy feat) he gets so worked up that he makes himself sick and I usually don't get more than one/two toes trimmed. Any suggestions would be appreciated. His toenails are so long - we check them at every bath to ensure that they are not growing back into the skin.
Re: Need 4YO Toenail Help!
Maybe if he watched somebody get a pedi it would help?
The poor bookus is obviously terrified and he's associating that with a bad experience.
try using an emery board maybe, to get them shorter and not seem as threatening as clippers.
:-) My niece was the same way. I took her to get a pedi...no luck, only sobbing in the salon. So, since she liked animals, I took her to the dog groomers. She got to watch dogs get their toenails clipped, which she thought was really funny. Then I took her to the barn where I kept my horse and she got to watch the farrier trim my horse's feet. He explained to her that a hoof is just like a big toenail and he had to trim the horse's toenails. Then I got her home and we were playing "dog groomer", she wanted to be the dog and get groomed so I brushed her hair, braided it, and proceeded to trim her nails "just like the dog at the groomers". It worked like a charm and she never had a problem with it after that.
Granted, my sister was slightly annoyed at having to play "dog groomer" or "farrier" every time she wanted to trim her nails...but it worked!
maybe seeing other kids his age getting their toenails trimmed. he will see there is nothing to be afraid of
I show my DS youtube videos all the time. He loves watching the videos and will ask me if he can watch. I've shown him potty training, dentist visits, and some others.
Desensitization. It works for conditioning out a variety of fears. In a way, this is similar to someone who won't step on a plane because they are afraid to fly.
Right now your child associates nail clipping with anxiety. You have to remove that association.
This takes baby steps. First, you have to set up a situation that is pleasant. Maybe eating ice cream, or listening to a favorite song. Just start talking about fingernails. If he gets anxious, stop, and try again later. Once you can do this, you can move on to the next step. Maybe that's just playing in the room with the toenail clippers sitting out. Once you master than, maybe it's having him hold the clippers. So on and so forth. If he ever gets too anxious, you stop and either move back a step or try that step again later.
Talk to your pedi about getting a referral to a child psychologist to help you with this, or determine if it's more complex than a phobic reaction.