vacuum cleaner bags

[Guest guest]

My son was and still is fascinated by vacuum cleaners, although not to the

extent that this boy seems to be. I guess what I would do in this instance is

tell him that he can go to see the bags after we have done our shopping (and

initially make that shopping very short...perhaps 1 minute) and then immediately

take him to the bags. Use a small visual timer, and I would get him accustomed

to how the timer works at home before trying this, and then take him shopping

with it, set it for a minute, and when the minute is up, he can go straight to

the bags, but I would set the timer again while at the bags and let him know

time is up for the bags until next shopping trip (of course you would very

gradually increase the time for shopping while keeping the time to a minute on

the bags). In the case where there are no bags in the store, then set the timer

and tell him you will go to a store with bags then. (Also, don't tell him where

any bags are in a new store).

I would use the bags as a conversation topic as you do now. My son doesn't mind

answering a few questions, but if you belabour it, he gets frustrated....soooo,

while letting him see bags at home or at shops, I would be asking questions,

like " what color is this bag? Who makes this bag? What kind of vaccum cleaner

does this bag go into? What's the number (model #...like E3) of this bag? Is

this top of this bag square or round? " ...rapid fire questioning but slow enough

for him to understand and do it only on bags...I think pretty soon he will get

rid of the bag ritual. Oh, and I would be sure not to ask him any questions

about anything else while shopping. Perhaps when he gets tired of the

questioning you will be able to take him, after your shopping, to a more

appropriate age area in the store, such as the toy or book dept or camping (if

your family likes camping).

I don't think I would let the school " post " bags to him; just tell them not to

take him to the posting area anymore and offer him something else that he really

likes, I don't know, you and the school could work that out.

I am only a parent; someone else on the list will probably come up with a

better idea. My son still looks at vacuum cleaners but he can wait until we get

there and just looks for a short time and does not have a meltdown if the store

doesn't have any.

Good luck,