Wow, two consecutive postings. This post is for all those parents stuck in rush hour traffic with the blinding sun in your faces and grumpy children in the backseat.
Today, beyond my will, I ended up spending 30 minutes driving back from the ER staring directly into the sun. My son's nursemaid's elbow was relocated, and he was picking everything out of his diaper bag with his once problematic arm. He was relatively happy throwing everything out of his diaper bag, but that pesky sun kept shining into his eyes. Needless to say with the rush hour commute, ER visit, the sun, and a squealing toddler in the back, I'm surprised I didn't go bonkers.
One of the final items left in his diaper bag was our clear plastic refillable diaper wipe case. He wanted the bag empty and the wipes out of the container. However, before the latter could happen, he got distracted by the reflection from the sun that the wipe container made on the ceiling. He pointed to it (moving his body and in turn, the case), and the reflection moved. He had fun trying to see if he could touch the reflection from his seat, but it kept moving. Then he decided to see if he could move the reflection to a different part of the car that he could touch, but alas, he sits in the middle seat and is still too short to reach the ceiling. As he was getting frustrated, I decided to distract him by playing catch the reflection (we were stopped at a light waiting for a train to pass). He kept moving the reflection, and I had to touch it. He loved being in control. And, we were doing science! (and not screaming!)
Just thought I'd share this idea as a science tool you could use on those days when all is going wrong.
**I don't encourage distracted driving, but I also think a screaming toddler is more of a distraction than lifting one arm to the ceiling when stopped at a traffic light. Please drive safely and use your best judgment.
Good luck!
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