Trying to Trim a Screaming Toddler’s Fingernails

And now trimming her father’s nails

Photo by Heike Mintel on Unsplash

Our daughter launched into the world strong-willed and immune to sleep, wired differently from her parents. Her father and I were not prepared. We had spent our free time lounging around listening to classical music and reading newspapers and books for years before she arrived. Then we spent the next twenty years trying to keep up with her.

She ran before she walked; neighbors called her the Energizer Bunny. She played basketball and soccer, took up three of the wind instruments, all at once. Fortunately in college she found her passion in medicine and has channeled all that boundless energy into an all-encompassing field. She sleeps through the night finally with no problem, almost three decades later.

One of the harbingers in her early life that alerted me to what we were in for was when I first tried to trim her fingernails as a toddler. I had watched other mothers gently take their compliant child’s hands and clip away, quickly and efficiently, smiling all the while. 2 minutes, tops. Seemed so easy. How hard could it be?

Then I tried. She wasn’t having it, despite my soft whispers and eventual bribes. Because the nails were scratching her inadvertently, the time for trimming them would become apparent. I had been able to…