dadof3boys

Usually if I laugh --good-naturedly -- at my boys when something happens to them, I can pull them out of a cry. Not always, but I'll take any strategy that works most of the time. I think it works because it makes them less self-conscious about falling down, messing up, etc. I know public embarrassment was a huge fear for me when I was little.

As far as the elevator story that began this thread ... I've been in that position a lot. Whenever I go to the mall with my 5- and 3-year-old, they believe they are entitled to push the elevator buttons. If someone else is sharing the elevator with us, my boys are aghast that someone else would push the button.