A Little Thing

I often use Faber and Mazlish's parenting trick of giving Sammy her wishes in fantasy. (Here's a great video describing the technique.)   Today, I used it a bit differently.  Sammy banged her shin and she handled it herself, holding it and taking deep breaths and saying "ow ow ow," but not screaming or whining or asking me to kiss it.  I felt so proud of her for taking care of herself, and yet I cringed to see her in pain.  I said, "Sammy, whenever I see you get hurt, I wish I could just clap my hands and make the pain go away."  As I said it, I slapped my hands together quite violently.  Sammy said, "Yeah, but you can't do that, because that would make it hurt worse."