Picture the scene. It’s time for the baby to sleep, but he won’t. He’s teething. He’s crying fit to burst, and all he really wants to do is bite his mummy and then cry some more. His mummy, quite understandably, doesn’t want to be bitten again, so she offloads baby onto daddy. That would be me.
Baby redoubles his efforts and, although it would be quite interesting to see exactly what shade of puce he can manage this time (as calibrated by Pantone) or whether his eyes will actually pop out from the exertion, I’m getting a headache. I’m also running out of options. He doesn’t want a teething ring. He never liked dummies (which might explain his objection to my ministrations). He isn’t thirsty. And his nappy is freshly laundered and, as yet, unwetted.
Inspiration strikes. I dandle him on my knee, and fire up iTunes on my Mac. Turning the sound off, I select something monotonous and middle of the road (Jack Johnson, since you ask) and turn on the visualiser. Baby is struck dumb by the gently flowing patterns. Result! Even better, when I look down a couple of minutes later, he’s fast asleep.
For the record, this isn’t a fluke. My wife and I have used iTunes induced hypnosis on Daniel several times now. It must be said though that it only seems to work with her music. My tunes just seem to make things worse (the patterns are far too frenetic!).
And now, excuse me, I think that I need a nap.