Although you'd think that, in a house with 2 girls and 1 boy, that the drama would come from the XX chromosomes, our house doesn't quite operate that way. Briggs tends to be my child who airs on the side of dramatic. In his younger years, it might have been freaking out about wind and spiders...or the dark or fireworks or beach umbrellas or rides at Disney. As he's outgrown some of those irrational fears, the drama has shifted a bit.
Briggs is our boy who cries 'ow'. Tears and yelling and drama and crying "ow, ow, ow, ow" has become a pretty regular occurrence around our house. It seems to be a rote reaction to any slight bump or fall or rough play or getting startled. Even before there is time to determine if an injury has actually occurred, Briggs is reacting as if it has. I think there are a number of reasons for this. Sometimes it's to get his sisters in trouble. Sometimes it's to hide embarrassment. Sometimes it's to get a reaction. But I think it has become such an immediate reaction that he doesn't even think about it anymore...it just happens. The downside of this, for Briggs, is that we rarely react to his tears or exclamations. We could very easily miss an actual blood-and-broken-bones injury since we have become so conditioned to Briggs crying 'ow' without due cause.
In the same way, Briggs always seems to have some sort of malady that he needs to let us know about. Whether it's his stomach hurting or a gunky throat or a sore eye or a possible bug bite, Briggs claiming to not feel well happens way more often than it does for the girls. It is often exacerbated by bedtime or by getting up for school. I am way more apt to give him a prune, tell him to take some allergy meds, assure him that he is fine, and send him off to school than I am to actually think he is sick. The ratio of telling him he doesn't feel well to actually being sick is quite disproportionate.
I don't want to disregard Briggs' feelings. I don't want to miss an actual injury or illness. I don't want to seem callous by disregarding my child's tears and exclamations. But just as we all learned from that childhood fable so many years ago, crying 'ow' comes at a cost. At least in this instance, Briggs' chances of being eaten by a wolf are pretty slim.
