Get picked up
The moment a child's feet leave the floor, somebody else decides where their body goes. For some children that is the safest place there is, for others it is a few seconds without control – the pictures below make the difference easier to talk about.
♀Get picked up
A happy child with raised arms is lifted up by two large hands.
About this visual support
A lift happens fast. Adults often reach down and lift in the same motion as they start talking, which means the floor disappears from under a child without warning. Those who enjoy it laugh. Those who do not tense up, go stiff or start kicking, and that reads as defiance when it is really a body losing its footing.
Visual support gives the lift a beginning the child can register in time. One picture of arms reaching out, one of the lift itself, and one of where the child ends up – in your arms, on your hip, up on your shoulders – makes the sequence recognisable in advance. Over time the same pictures let the child ask to be picked up.
In practice: ask and wait for an answer before you lift, even when you are in a hurry at the shop or by the car. A small nod or a point at the picture is enough, and that second turns the lift into something the child agreed to. The pictures are free to download, and in the Routined app you can keep them alongside the rest of the day during a 14-day free trial.