To have put water in the syringe??

[rabbitheadlights]

Whining, moaning, Mardy 4yr DS has been going on for hours over the tiniest scratch on his foot. "It hurts" "it stings" "owwww" "I can't have a bath my foot hurts" .... Arghhhhh

DP then helpfully asks "do you want some medicine?"

I'm not giving medicine for a scratch so put water in a syringe and gave that.

DS none the wiser and he's stopped moaning!!

DP thinks I've conned DSant "that's tight!"

So YABU ...as DP says

Or YANBU ... there's a lot to be said for the placebo effect, DS has stopped moaning, no need for unnecessary medicine everyone's a winner!!

I've used strawberry milk shake mix and told them it was calpol.

I used squash in the same position

It worked a treat. Tasted like calpol

Rosehip syrup in a little milk would cure anything here!

Great idea. I would do that myself.

Do you think this would work for husbands?

Back in the early 90s Placebos were given regularly on medical wards to those during the night who wanted extra help to sleep, and it worked. Crazy how our brain works!

I used to put 'medicine' on a spoon when mine 'needed ' it
Same as I put special cream ( moisturiser) on a child's sore finger etc at school
Before anyone moans..I'm first aid trained and we have a matron who I'd send them to if I thought they needed to go !!!

It’s a bit like putting magic newspaper on the coach seat under children when they need a wee on the school trip coach.Helps them hold it until we can stop.

Thousands of people take homeopathic medicine daily. That’s just a sugar pill. Unless you are really daft enough to think that water has a memory.

The one that always makes me laugh is the Plutonium 60c pills. Like plutonium is just laying around to dilute, then dilute...and dilute & dilute & dilute & dilute...

Placebo is a powerful thing. I just wish homeopaths didn’t recommend their bullshit to help cure serious diseases, like cancers. That’s when this rubbish can have fatal effects.

*yes, theoretically there is plutonium in the environment thanks to nuclear testing/accidents etc. But it would take a bloody genius to find an atom of it, pick it up with tweezers & begin the wakey wakey water shaking thing.

You did some great quick thinking OP, nothing wrong with it at all. We use 'bump fat' which requires a fully mimed performance of fetching and unscrewing the imaginary tub before rubbing it on (a scene where the child's hammy acting is bettered by the parent's). If it isn't an injury but we are sure it's just acting, then we have been known to give children's Simple Syrup in place of Calpol, which is just sugar and flavour but works a treat. It isn't often needed, but is good to have in the arsenal.
I have also been known on the odd occasion to fetch an extremely rusty saw from the garage, which usually heals the injury instantly.

MrsTerryPratchet that's fascinating!

@MrsTerryPratchett

She chose the placebo and apparently it helped. Even though she watched me fill it from the tap.

That's science too. Placebos work even when people KNOW they are placebos. Now that's weird.

Isn’t it. I heard a podcast on that and was fascinated.

Just to add. As a qualified first aider I had a tub of special pills in my Guiding first aid kit. They were particularly useful for Brownies or Rainbows having a night time homesick tummy ache & sob, coupled with a hug. Magic Sleeping pills. Almost mythical effects.

Parents were made well aware they were Skittles. Of course we had real meds for things too!

Placebos are fascinating. I read the effect is at least partly due to having someone act kind and interested and acknowledging the person’s pain.

One of my DC could be rather highly strung. I found solemnly acknowledging the terrible suffering she was going through, reassuring her it would pass, then changing the subject usually did the trick. Minimising her suffering, bizarrely, made it worse. Funnily enough she was really stoic when she broke her arm badly and needed surgery and pins etc a few years ago. Probably because everyone was taking it seriously! Weird.

Water cures ouchies in this house. I can also kiss them better (unless it's actually broken the skin, then it's an air kiss). If the situation is absolutely dire I whack a plaster on it.