Your children can swallow pills?

Yes they can, and they have since they were 3 and 2 years old.  We started biomed later in age with our older son, which is why he started at 3 rather than 2.  Both can take a pill cup and dump it in their mouths and swallow, even without liquids, ICK!  I can't even do that!! 

A friend asked me how I got them to swallow pills and the light bulb went on, what a great idea for a blog entry!  Of course, what works for my kids' personalities may not work for all, but it's not often I meet a child who doesn't want to prove their parents wrong, lol.  Reverse psychology anyone? 

Before I explain how it went down in our kitchen, let me preface this with something I think is very important in all child rearing facets....attitude.  No, I don't mean you should HAVE an attitude and force your child to take a pill, lol, what I mean by attitude is the general mood you carry throughout any lesson.  I truly believe that children have an innate sense of the emotions and moods going on around them.  It's how they survive without the use of words for months to years.  They need, instinctively, to be in tune with their parents.  If you believe your child can't swallow pills (and I bet you are shaking your head yes here), then well, they can't.  They are going to sense your "attitude" about it.  When you have confidence in anything, your body reeks of it, your body language is different, your eyes and forehead are different, your voice is stronger and straight forward, just ask an investigator about unspoken body language, it's much deeper than just crossing your arms or legs, lol.

So I mentioned reverse psychology...this has done wonders for us at inopportune times, like the dinner table when our 3 year old won't touch his asparagus, I just will him to eat it all up by suggesting he couldn't POSSIBLY do it, with a grin!  The grin is mucho importante!  He knows I am playing a game and immediately begins to put it in faster than if there were a big piece of cake right in front of him.  So what is the difference between this and having the confidence that he can do it?  I am not suggesting he really CAN'T do it, I am suggesting he won't, with a big old grin on my face, a sneaky don't-you-dare- do it, because I know he CAN!  Then when he does, I overdose him in praise saying, "SEE, I KNEW YOU COULD!"  And then we belly laugh through the rest of dinner.  He forgets about ever trying to fight me on whatever was on that empty plate just minutes earlier.

Ironically, the first time this happened with pill swallowing was a complete accident, lol.  It was more monkey-see, monkey do.  Grayson saw me swallowing my fish oil which looked just like his chewable fish oil.  He totally caught me off guard when he watched me and said, "I can swallow mine too".  I looked at him and my initial reaction was...."no yours is a chewable", well it was....lol.  WELL, don't tell my 3 year old he can't do something, HAHAHA.  It wasn't like "I don't think you can", it was more like, "HAHAHA, you silly boy, that is a chewable".  He instantly proved me wrong!  The praise he got was more than enough to have him asking for more to "show" me he could do it, lol.  I am not exactly sure where the fine line between having confidence and using reverse psychology comes in, but adding humor always results in a feisty defiance that works to my advantage.  I'm just waiting for them to pick up on it, lol.

With Gavin, I remembered what worked with Grayson and at two years old, I recreated the situation with a teeny tiny astaxanthin gel cap.  When he put the gelcap in his mouth, I told him that all he has to do is keep gulping his water, with his head back, until the pill was "gone".  He proudly opened his mouth for inspection.  Yup, gone!!  He has recently (at 3 years old) worked up to the largest fish oil gelcap that even I have trouble swallowing!  And he did it without water, just to show me he could, because now I hand them their pills and there is no question in my mind that they can do it.  They can do anything they want to do.  =)