Little boys and their favorite toys…. emotionally aware parenting.

Affiliate Disclosure: “This page contains affiliate links. If you choose to purchase after clicking a link, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you. “

“As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.”

Over the weekend I had the honor of performing life saving surgery for my son’s t-rex whom he fondly calls Dino! Dino is his favorite toy and best friend in the whole world. Needless to say, he’s a bit old and worn and has a few battle scars, pieces of his arms were also lost in some past battles whilst hunting for food and defending his territory.

On Saturday morning I was busy preparing lunch and my son was in his room playing with his toys, some of which comprise of some pretty sizable dinosaurs. I checked on him and he was quite engrossed in a battle arena with a Bajadasaurus and his new Christmas acquisition …Toothless with plasma blaster, who was also about thirteen inches long. The dreaded battle was on. There was a lot of loud stomping involved which I could hear from the kitchen. We got Toothless from Amazon, the link is found below.

Now Dino who’s considerably smaller than the other war lords on the battlefield was up front and centre putting up a good fight. After all he was the original king of the beasts in the toy box LOL! Dino is part of a set of dinosaurs, which was purchased on Amazon. (Oh by the way I’m not bragging or anything but hussy and I built an ottoman for our son’s room over the Christmas holidays…..maybe I’ll tell you guys about it. It turned out okay but who knew something that looks so simple could be such a pain to build)

Anyways I’m there stirring my pot of soup when in comes son-son with tears streaming down his face quietly says, “Mama…Dino…his head came off”. Pitiful little face looking at me with head in one hand and Dino’s limp body in the other. The smartest thing that I could think to say was,” Okay! Well that’s it! Dino’s finished!” And like a trigger the loudest shriek and uncontrollable tears began…what the heck did I just say? Why did I blurt that out..so thoughtlessly! I felt my chest go heavy and my stomach did a flip. How could I make a joke about something that meant so much to him? I’m such an idiot 🙁

He’s now sobbing uncontrollably because he broke Dino’s head off…..I made his pain worse than was necessary. I turned off the stove and sat him down. Okay I can fix this. What the heck was I going to do? My hugs and kisses were not helping at all…he just kept crying; he was inconsolable. His dad was not home at the time so he could not help. I could not find the any glue at all. It’s not that we didn’t have any, I just couldn’t find not one bottle of glue. I frantically searched everywhere and nothing…zilch.. not even the large bottle of glitter glue that was watching me on the dresser for a good six months before Christmas, not one of the million bottles wood glue that I know existed (yes I was not thinking straight because Dino is made of plastic). Did they all get up and leave during the night to attend a bottle glue convention?

So I gave up on glue and went back to him, he’s standing where I left him in the living room crying his eyes out. Then I got an idea. “Hunny, let’s take Dino to the hospital…we will have to do surgery!” Well, that seemed to work because he started to calm down, thank goodness. I told him I was going to look for supplies and asked him to help me. I noticed his mood started to lighten. I started to breathe a sigh of relief.

The dining room table became the hospital, a new 2026 calendar was turned over to form a perfectly white operating theater and some cute blue kitten “boo boo” plasters would form a cast around Dino’s neck. And just like that; crisis averted, Dino was okay. He was so happy he picked Dino up immediately. Dino was alive and well and plop! What was that? Dino’s head is lying on the operating table and he has the rest of his body in his hand. Nooooooo not again! I look at the little face get all serious again and then he just bursts out in laughter. I scooped up the patient quickly and put him back together (I was betrayed by the boo boo plaster which refused to stick to Dino’s neck).

I told him that Dino had to rest after the surgery and his daddy would examine him when he got home to see if he could help. He nodded in agreement and we left Dino comfortably sleeping in the hospital. (It was the only way the boo boo plaster could hold the head in place..oh boy). Mind you he would not leave the hospital and sat there until his daddy came and fixed Dino’s head (He used Gorilla glue by the way). Dino was discharged later that night for bedtime since he has a permanent spot on the bed to guard his territory and protect his little master.

So I definitely learnt a lesson; be aware of feelings and situations; emotional intelligence is important and I need to be more aware of it as situations arise. It’s not only for adults it’s necessary when dealing with children too. If you’re interested in honing your emotional intelligence skills as well as your kids, here’s something to get you started. What I thoughtlessly said to son-son at the time escalated the situation and hurt his feelings. I feel like I dropped the ball on this one and felt like a terrible parent. I should have known how it would affect him. Thank goodness he was resilient and bounced back quickly. As for Dino he should not be partaking in any more battles as per his doctor’s orders; since his neck healed after the surgery, it can no longer move and any extensive movement might cause another tragedy.

What I thoughtlessly said to son-son at the time escalated the situation and hurt his feelings. I feel like I dropped the ball on this one and felt like a terrible parent. I should have known how it would affect him. Thank goodness he was resilient and bounced back quickly. As for Dino he should not be partaking in any more battles as per his doctor’s orders; since his neck healed after the surgery, it can no longer move and any extensive movement might cause another tragedy.

But boys will be boys and who can guarantee what shenanigans Dino might get himself into in the future? In the meantime I’ll have the supplies for the operating theater prepped and ready for emergency surgery.