Hi Mamas. My 3 yo daugther tends to get "shocked" froms static electricy more than your average person. Moreover, we live in a cold, dry climate where static electricity is everywhere! She has developed a fear and avoidance of it, and it's causing issues on the playground. Here's why: Basically anytime a kid slides on a slide, they get all static-y, and then when you go to walk up the stairs again, you get a big shock. So now, my daughter refuses to touch these railings of jungle gyms. I should note that when she was 2 yo, she actually fell from a play structure and landed on her head, gave us a huge scare but turned out to be fine. At 3 yo, she can still fall under some of the railings... which, clearly scares me to death. We have a rule that she must hold on the railings but of course she is a willful one and will not do it. She's terrified of getting shocked! So now we are at a stand still because she basically can't play on any jungle gyms at the parks we go to! I'm wondering if there are any solutions you know about to help reduce the shock associated with static elecricity. It's something she's going to have to learn to tolerate, but still hoping there are some ideas out there to help her out!
Ditto GrammaRocks. Also, give her a dryer sheet and have her use it. That helps her feel like she is fixing the solution. As she gets older, teach her about science. Knowledge is power and she will stop being afraid as she understands and has success in preventing it.
Dawn
I normally spray down the kids with static guard and rubber soled shoes. We live in MN and its a huge deal, I also take dryer sheets in my purse and before they start I rub them down with dryer sheets over the clothes.
I don't know if it would help but you could try putting rubber soled shoes on her. Those protect workers from shocks.
Rub the slides and railings with dryer sheets, (she can also sit on one the first time), have her wear rubber soled shoes or boots, and stand firm, no holding railings, no jungle gyms, slides, no fun. Having a child obey because of a safety hazard or lose out trumps willfullness every time in my book ;)
The only two things I know of are grounding yourself (touching a metal pole that is grounded) and foregoing polyester clothes ( like fleece) and synthetic shoes. For my DD it is usually the plastic on plastic rubbing when she sits in the car seat with a fleece sweater on that "charges" her... But the occasional zap doesn't bother her too much.
Good luck!
If you don't want to do the dryer sheets, you could also wet your daughter's hair (mist it) and her hands (less likely to get shocked).
That stinks-I feel for your daughter, I hated getting shocked. It mostly happened to me when going near or on the slides. I work with kids now and am still not a fan of going down a slide with them because of it. I think the dryer sheet idea is a good one, maybe even keep a couple in her pockets after rubbing her down. Wish I had better advice, but I am in the same boat-there was a while I didn't want to play when I was a kid either!
This may sound wierd, but I love getting zapped! I especially love going down the tunnel slide in my fleece Y sweater and watching the sparks fly from my fingertips! When the kids school did a Mad Science party I spent half the night at the machine that gives the electrical shocks. Anyway, I didn't have a suggestion, but the dryer sheets sound like a good idea.
