c) Teach the kid how to use the tools themselves so they become self-sufficient as they grow older? I mean, that's what my mom did. I'm still not great at fixing complex things, but I know my way around a screwdriver and a pair of pliers. Granted, little kids aren't necessarily going to be able to handle full-sized, functional tools when they're younger, but sooner or later they need to learn to use tools and solve problems without relying on Mom or Dad to tell them how to use everything.
I don't think it's necessarily a sign of mental illness as a child to treat inanimate objects as thinking beings. Kids do go through weird phases. I remember deciding that my old booster seat was a dog and dragging it through the house, and absolutely nobody could convince me that it was not something which needed to be walked, cuddled, and fed (I fed it paper). I grew out of it, and as an adult I think I have a pretty advanced grasp of the difference between "living, thinking being" and "inanimate object."
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Date: 2009-07-11 06:59 pm (UTC)I don't think it's necessarily a sign of mental illness as a child to treat inanimate objects as thinking beings. Kids do go through weird phases. I remember deciding that my old booster seat was a dog and dragging it through the house, and absolutely nobody could convince me that it was not something which needed to be walked, cuddled, and fed (I fed it paper). I grew out of it, and as an adult I think I have a pretty advanced grasp of the difference between "living, thinking being" and "inanimate object."