..rabba rabba…
Remember that good old song from the dark ages – you know, from the movie Coolie?
Well it’s my favourite song to sing to the kids when they fall down and get hurt. Now the moment the Bean falls over she looks at me expectantly and I burst into song -Dono jawaani ki masti mein choor…accident ho gaya – and she ends the song gleefully yelling, rabba rabba, all hurt forgotten!
I remember when I was a kid my parents would invariably distract me telling me I had killed an ant and I’d crawl around looking for injured ants. This, is my updated version of the age old distratcion trick. What’s yours?
The Mad Momma 
That would be a crack on the ground / wall … Cantaloupe being the strong kid had to cause some damage to mother earth 🙂
I almost fell off my chair reading this. Girl, you make me laugh, and how!
And I waited for someone to say Rabba Rabba as I regained my balance!
Sing, sing …
Hey MadMomma,
My Mom used to use ‘Gir gir ke bade hote hain’. Everytime I fell, I would go to the mirror and measure my new height. Now 30 odd years later- I realise its metaphorically true as well- haina? Gir Gir ke hi to bade hote hain. Thats one of my Mama’s parenting tips that I have gracefully inherited…
My children love it and quickly dust themselves up and even feel proud that they fell. It also confuses the hell out of kids, especially when a stranger kid falls and I use that line. They forget to cry and curiously look at me like, ‘Hmm..now this lady here seems to have an interesting perspective’. Its a ‘to die for expression’ on their faces.
am i missing something? There is a huge gap in your post, but cannot find any snap there, did my page not load completely?
Me: I think the page didnt load. The Coolie video is embedded in it.
Ha ha – I use the SAME song now – but that’s coz we are in the throes of potty training #2!
🙂
Everytime I fell, my parents would say I grew an inch. No, I never threw myself on the floor to grow taller…Never. Not even when was the shortest in the class. N.E.V.E.R. I swear!
Me: *tries hard to look like she believes June. really*
what happened to screaming I TOLD YOU NOT TO JUMP FROM THERE SEE NOW YOU HAVE FALLEN DOWN. Whats all this singing distracting. hmph.
Me: go ahead. ruin the image i have of myself in my own head then. humph
Heh heh! My son distracts himself by asking for ice before I do and then says “theek ho gaya” 🙂
What do I do? You mean other than banshee shrieking, “Didn’t I tell you what to watch where you go?”
I’ll spare myself my lame uppers. Digging the Rabba Rabba and especially the “Gir gir ke Hi bade Hote Hain”
Oh I read this in RD a loooooooong time ago… there’s this kid playing in the park and he falls down and hurts himself and starts bawling fit to wake up the dead. His father distracts him by putting on an emcee-ish accent and giving a performance: “And the nominations for the award of ‘I fell down in the park and hurt myself and I think I’m going to die are… (kid’s name)’… ‘The winner is for the award of… is… (kid’s name)'” then he actually hands some make belive prize to the kid and makes a funny acceptance speech and by the time the kid has stopped bawling and is smiling a delightedly. I thought the whole thing was so cute!
i’ve noticed that kids want you to beat the floor or the table etc because of which they kid hurt.do you beat the floor too? 🙂
for a moment there I thought it was the other kind of accident when i read the post title. y’know the one you’ve been lobbying for but the OA wont pass. put my breakfast plate down in anticipation and all that. khair, jaane do.
i do the ‘yaaay you just grew an inch thing’ too.
Me: the next person who suggests I get pregnant, gets a dirty look. its not my fault the damn OA wont come around 😀
smack the offending object that hurt too.
🙂
we whoop and say Gir Gaya as if its the best thing to happen in the world! :p
soon he will see thru the charade! he comes to us saying chot lag gaya! and then shows ten other places EXCEPT the one where he is hurt and we need to massage and kiss it! 😉
Cubby’s favourite song for me to sing? remember that titan fastrack ad that went How mant How Many how many! in weird accent! he goes nuts laughing!
but coolie! seriously!! M would be touching your feet! 🙂
cheers!
With my kiddos, the more sympathy they get, the more hypochondriac they get. The biggest problem in our family is the BIG KID…hubby goes hysterical that his pure n precious children are DAMAGED! Goes running for the Arnica and the painkillers while I roll my eyes!
yes, the ‘beat-the-floor-or-table’ trick is something we used for the toddler years. Now we go into scientific explanations, so that Div starts thinking of her muscles n nerves n innards and forgets the pain!
Mine have self trained themselves to look for the smallest scratch they can find as soon as possible so they can get a band aid. Or else they look for excuses for getting the teddy bear ice pack from the fridge. Falling down is a fun thing in our household except when bones get broken or clothes get blood soaked. Then I cry before they do 😦
When they were younger, usually a suitably enthusiastic “That’s a GOOD one” would distract them enough – if feelings remained hurt, hitting the object concerned (yes, even the floor) did it. If they brought it on themselves, and after they had reached the age of reason (somewhat!), then the “see I told you so…” lines were trotted out, and obviously treated with the disdain they deserve!
M
We used to tell D that the ground got hurt and she has to stroke it with love. Now when she gets hurt she calls out to stroke her and whatever she has hurt herself with.
We both act concern and ask whether we need to go to the doc,call the ambulance…They then say don’t be silly. Neil also uses an ice-pack.
I was a kid who fell down all the time. So all my mum would say was, so how many times has that happened today already? And I’d be so busy trying to count that I’d forget to make a fuss.
ROFL…! This was a great post lunch treat :p Rabba, Rabba!
Nice thoughtful post!
My wife pretends calling for a crow while using her one hand like an approaching crow! She used to do it on my brother’s son and now my daughter….it is always easier to make him eat after you tell him that a crow is approaching him!
Alok
Now that is one of the cutest things I have heard in a long time…I will always think of your two little babies when I hear this song!
I used to be told “Bahadur ladki…” the moment I got back up and so that would stem any tears!
tagged
An almost disgustingly good looking couple you two are. This of course garnered from the sum of miscellaneous body parts.(I should SO be in CSI)
Happy Anniversary, you two lovelies!
Where’s the anniversary post to make your readers weep at work?:-)
Me: Anniv on the 25th – the banner is just to set the mood.. and thank you 🙂
The kiss can heal all! I am used to kiss elbows, knees, head and even dirty feet. Unfortunately this can be problematic when they are playing make believe- I have to kiss ‘Fluffy’and sundry other soft toys who have got ‘hurt’ and the auto, bus, motorbike and the (yuk) Dinosaur too!
AVID, REGULAR reader, rare commenter sadly.
loved this post, my mum smacks the floor when my neices nephews fall down, like the floor was to blame, bad floor bad floor!
but ur accident hogaya is a good trick too, must keep in mind 😉
HOW are you so articulate? love love love the way you write, esp ur 80clicksaroundtheworld motherhood post. made me all senti, just 4 months into marriage, and a strict believer in waiitng a little, settling in before the babies, UR blog makes me want to have a few of my own right this minute!
MM, this was so cute and so reminiscent of my childhood. That’s what my Maasi used to tease me with when I fell and bawled my lungs out (which was every time I fell, even if on a bed or something!) And Mummy used to be like really paranoid every time I fell, so Papa had to calm her first and me later! LOL…
I’ll remember to write on this when I have kids and then tell you all what tricks I have started using!
@yuva:
Reminds me of that washing powder ad which for a welcome change didn’t have women scrubbing at their husband’s clothes (and never their own, as if they don’t need to wash their saris). This one had a little doll reciting a poem as her elder bro walked her home from school, and she suddenly trips and falls. One look at her muddy hands has her bawling, so the bro (who is as small but a couple of years elder to the girl) starts to hit the mud till it ‘apologises’ for hurting his precious li’l sis. Then with every square inch of his body covered with mud, he smiles triumphantly at his sis and says, “Sorry bol raha hai”. The sis smiles too and they walk off. Damn sweet the ad was. The tagline went, “Daag lagne se kuch achcha hota hai, to daag achche hain na?”