I only put it down for thirty seconds and when I came back there was a bear eating it!

[andrewducker]

I'm off to Hugh's place in a moment, where I shall be babysitting my nephew for the first time, as everyone else is off to watch Johnny Depp go Arrrr a lot. Yesterday was my introduction to nappy-changing and feeding, both of which went without a hitch. I shall of course panic a lot when I have to do this in real life, but Ed's going to come over and lend moral support, so I'm sure the panicking won't last for more than an hour or two.

Comments

[thishardenedarm.livejournal.com]

if sustained, engaged with and not avoided, either cognitively, behaviourally or affectively, panic lasts a maximum of an hour and a half, but usually people get over it (given the above conditions) in 20 minutes.

[andrewducker]

Thankfully everything's gone fine so far, including both nappy changing and feeding, so there's not been any need to panic.

If I panic for an hour and a half, am I allowed to panic again immediately afterwards so I can do 3 hours in total?

[thishardenedarm.livejournal.com]

if its to the same stimulus, you will have habituated to some degree, so if there was some return of fear, it would be of less intensity and duration.

[missedith01.livejournal.com]

Yeah, usually that nappy-changing thing happens without a hitch when the parents are there, but then they go and the child turns into something resembling an octopus. A good wheeze is to put anything obviously dangerous out of reach then go outside without your keys but leave the door ajar. This leaves you in relative peace, drinking tea on the doorstep, but able to respond to any obvious sounds of destruction or impending fatality. Then when you see the car approach, shut the door and pretend to have locked yourself outside by accident five minutes after they went. Apologise in a heart-felt way for the lack of nappy changing. Sorted!

[miramon.livejournal.com]

Don't forget to have duct tape available for emergencies.