It establishes a means for the child to cue to SELF-SOOTHE, and later, to SELF-REFLECT. It's a special form of redirection, basically.

Like a re-set button. That the child has control over.

Young children may not always be ABLE to do that when in the middle of a melt-down, and often a change of scenery helps them to cue the process. You just have to be careful not to make the intervention a reward in and of itself.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.