Monday, December 17, 2007

Restraint?

A is now 30 months and is in a stage where she is kicking us during diaper changes, and when we have to do things to care for her special needs (she has a feeding tube and doesn't want anyone to touch it - though we, obviously, have to). I have been trying the "be gentle with your feet" tactic and have seen some response, but, at a certain point, I just find myself having to restrain her just to get the diaper on.

I guess my question is if restraint qualifies as gentle discipline. I know it can't feel good to her, and I'm terribly concerned about it hurting her, but I just don't know what else to do. I try to keep the restraint as brief as possible and I absolutely don't express any anger or anything - it's just a means to an end.

The other question is whether or not it's appropriate to *force* her to walk with me to do this or that (like clean up or coming out of a room she's not supposed to be in or that sort of thing). I try very hard to hold her in such a way that she can't dislocate her shoulder or anything dangerous while I (almost) drag her to whatever place or away from whatever place. I know I could just pick her up to remove her, which is what I do in emergency. But this is for when I'm trying to teach her to move away from (or toward) something that she doesn't want to do.