Blowing out the "Candles" is a Great Way to Calm Down a Kid! (and perhaps an adult)
A genius idea from my husband
I can’t recall which kid or when but I do remember one of them having a tantrum in a most inconvenient place. Before I had the chance to grab the kid and run, my husband Tim took over. He put himself face to face with our little “angel” and held out one hand and said, “blow out the candles!” Without further instruction, our toddler took a deep breath and exhaled directly into my husbands hand. My husband partially collapsed his 5 digits and said, “Try Again. ” The kid wound up for a second time, took a deeper breath and exhaled harder. This time all 5 of Tim’s fingers collapsed into a soft fist indicating that all of the candles had been blown out. Tantrum over.
At the time, I felt like I was witnessing a miracle. All it took for my ranting toddler to calm down was to take two deep breaths and exhale. We have used this “technique” hundreds of times between our 5 kids and it almost always worked. I can recall a particular time when my husband had one of our kids repeat the process so many times, that it ended in hysterical laughter between the two of them. I can still hear the belly laughs, see the tears streaming down my son’s face as the snot was bubbling from his nose! Memories. 🙄
My daughter Monica is now a Pre-School teacher who found herself going into autopilot mode one day when she held out her fingers in front of a distraught student and instructed them to blow out the candles. Another miracle! It looks like our 30 year old solution to calm an upset kid is still viable today. If you have a young child, give it a try and let me know how it goes.
For those of you who are not in the parenting game these days, there is a lesson here for you too! BREATHE!!!! Try taking an intentional breath before walking into a meeting, sitting down to write your next fabulous Substack article or settling into bed for the evening. Then notice how calming it feels to take an intentional breath. It’s simply wonderful!
On the flip side, do you ever find yourself holding your breath at different points during your day? I bet that doesn’t feel so great! I teach morning fitness classes and I have to constantly remind my students to breathe. I always see at least one sweaty red face with lips pursed tightly looking like they are about to explode. 🤯 🥵 One student even approached me after class and remarked that I always suggest breathing at the exact right time!
Won’t you close your eyes with me right now for 5 seconds, take a nice deep breath in and blow out the candles. How was that?
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Great recommendation. I think I’ve got it as I noticed myself taking in deep breaths before I even got to your recommendation to do so at the end of your story 😁So therapeutic.
This is a fantastic post!!! So simple yet the message is so effective, evem for a 5-year-old! Your husband is a genius 👏