Reply #4: Thanks a bunch for the good advice. The hitting part [View All]

is not deliberate; it's just natural when she jumps into my lap and throws her arms around my neck. When you do that, you can't avoid clouting the other person on the shoulder. Unfortunately, I have a shoulder that hurts even from the pressure of wearing a heavy shirt or sweater or jacket, it's that sensitive. That's what the real problem is.

Other than that, everything's great between us. And I have tried your excellent suggestion of explaining it to her when she's not in a snit, and she understands and says she'll be careful, but then forgets. So that's why I'm at my wits' end to find a solution.

Though I do get annoyed when she uses the word "wimp;" she wasn't there when I went through 11 days of (never mind what) with four broken bones and numerous other injuries before I could get to a hospital. Though she has seen me go back to work fifteen minutes after having back spasms so bad they knock me to the floor and keep me from breathing for minutes at a time. She's seen me get a fish hook driven into my thumb, and calmly push it the rest of the way through so I could snip off the barb and remove it, without even saying ouch. so she knows I'm no wimp, but she can't help using the word in that situation, for some reason.

I'm going on too much here. Thank you again for your considerate and thoughtful advice.

Redstone