As Bruce matured, he began to observe other parents and note how they reacted to injuries. He realized that quite often, the children were fine, only crying if their mother or father reacted emotionally. “I witnessed children involved in horrible crashes that went unnoticed by their parents. The kids just got up, brushed themselves off and moved on,” Bruce recalls now. However, that same event would result in a different outcome if a parent became involved and responded with a concerned comment, such as “Oh my goodness, Johnny, you fell in the sand, are you ok? What can I do to help you?”
As an example, Bruce describes an incident when his son Taylor was about five years old and they lived on a steep hill that Taylor loved to ride his bike on.
“Dad, watch me, watch me,” said Taylor one day as he started off at the top of the hill, pushing himself off before flying down the hill.
“I watched him maneuver through the trees like a professional driver when all of a sudden, our dog chased after him and bumped him,” says Bruce. “Taylor lost control of his bike, flipped over the bars, and tumbled down the hill for a while until an oak tree stopped him.” Bruce walked down the hill and, intentionally staying calm, said, “Taylor, that was the coolest crash that I have ever seen!” He helped up his son, who took his cue from his father’s response. “Taylor did not shed a single tear,” Bruce recalls now. He brushed off the dirt, bandaged up his cuts, and “he was on his bike trying to break the speed record again in about five minutes.”