Bug and Pill Bottles

I often see questions about how to handle dangerous situations with toddlers in a peaceful parenting manner. I literally just had such a moment with Bug (21 months) which I can share with you.

Pill bottles.

Bug picked up a bottle of ibuprofen from Papa's desk and was shaking it all around and having a good time. Then he brought it to me saying "open um?"
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Old me would have had a minor panic attack. "Oh my gosh! How did you get those?! That is dangerous, you do not play with medication! NOT SAFE! No sir! Do not touch!" and so on and so forth. I'd take the pills and put them away.

But what would that accomplish? He saw something, was curious as to what it was and wanted to see it so he brought it to me for help. Then he sees me wig out and hears me raise my voice and probably thinks "what the heck is going on with Mama?" So now he's likely curious about what those pills are AND why they make Mana have such a strange reaction. He may think he needs to find them again and play this scene out multiple times to figure out what's going on.

So instead when he said "open um?" I opened the bottle and let him look inside. I said "That's medicine."

"Oooo, men-in-sin. See um?"" Bug said.

I poured a couple in my hand. He picked one up and went to eat it. I stopped his hand, saying "No Bug, medicine is only for when you are very sick. You are not sick so you don't need this medicine."

Bug pondered that for a second, then put the pills from my hand back into the bottle. "Lid on!" he said as he got the lid for me. I closed it up, and he put the bottle back on the desk where he found it, then went playing along his merry way.

Curiosity satisfied, on the the next discovery.See More

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