C
cheever548
Guest
The babysitter told me and my wife something about our 7yr old son that has us concerned.
She said last fall our boy asked her to hold him on her lap with her hands pulled back into his stomach "just as tight as you can." It seemed a harmless request, a simple way to keep him entertained. So as they watched TV she held him on her lap with his stomach held in extremely tight, and he was quiet and content.
Next time she came to babysit, he asked her to hold him the same way again. So she did. And ever since, she always holds him with her hands pulled back into his stomach super tight.
This babysitter is a big brawny 19 year old farmgirl. I'm sure she's capable of squeezing his stomach in horrifically tight. She says at times she worried about hurting him, but he was doing fine, and he was so insistent. So she would hold him just as tight as it could get.
She said she's been feeling uneasy about all this, but she didn't know how to say no to him. Also she was afraid to tell us. But finally she did, and we told her we're glad she did.
Actually this isn't the first time our boy's been held like this. His cousin, who's now in college, always used to hold him with her hands squeezed back deep into his stomach, when he was younger. And we never thought anything of it. But now it seems he's fixated on having his babysitter hold his stomach in too, and far tighter than his cousin ever did.
We don't want to overreact, but what should we do? Should we tell the babysitter not to hold him like this any more, or should we tell her it's okay? And what about our son? Should we let him get it out of his system, or should we tell him to stop?
She said last fall our boy asked her to hold him on her lap with her hands pulled back into his stomach "just as tight as you can." It seemed a harmless request, a simple way to keep him entertained. So as they watched TV she held him on her lap with his stomach held in extremely tight, and he was quiet and content.
Next time she came to babysit, he asked her to hold him the same way again. So she did. And ever since, she always holds him with her hands pulled back into his stomach super tight.
This babysitter is a big brawny 19 year old farmgirl. I'm sure she's capable of squeezing his stomach in horrifically tight. She says at times she worried about hurting him, but he was doing fine, and he was so insistent. So she would hold him just as tight as it could get.
She said she's been feeling uneasy about all this, but she didn't know how to say no to him. Also she was afraid to tell us. But finally she did, and we told her we're glad she did.
Actually this isn't the first time our boy's been held like this. His cousin, who's now in college, always used to hold him with her hands squeezed back deep into his stomach, when he was younger. And we never thought anything of it. But now it seems he's fixated on having his babysitter hold his stomach in too, and far tighter than his cousin ever did.
We don't want to overreact, but what should we do? Should we tell the babysitter not to hold him like this any more, or should we tell her it's okay? And what about our son? Should we let him get it out of his system, or should we tell him to stop?