Need to find greater peace in your parenting? Get your FREE Stop Yelling & Start Connecting Starter Guide today!
Need greater peace in your parenting? Get your FREE Stop Yelling & Start Connecting Starter Guide today!
THIS IS YOUR YEAR!
Or is it?
Are you over it yet? The “New Year, New You,” “Grab the bull by the horns!” “MAKE THIS THE BEST YEAR EVER!” posts yet?
? I am.
The start of a new year is all about going hardcore. How this is YOUR chance! New beginnings! Capricorn energy! Full moon!
Maybe it happens frequently. Or maybe it only happened once. Suddenly, you find yourself screaming at your child. You’ve lost all control, but you don’t remember getting there. You feel ashamed and vow it will never happen again. But it does. Learning what got you there is the first step to preventing it. It’s time to know your triggers.
Whether it is during the toddler years when tantrums are an almost hourly occurrence, or during the teen years when simply walking past them in the hallway is enough to garner an eye-roll, or somewhere in between, our children are not out to give us a hard time. They are having a hard time.
To be a cycle breaker means you are willing to ask the tough questions that relatives couldn’t or wouldn’t ask. It means seeking to understand your behaviors and uncover patterns passed down from previous generations. It requires you to be vulnerable, but the rewards are worth it.
The parenting relationship involves two people: you and your child. When there is strife in the relationship, we often look to the kids. We question why they aren’t listening, why they are making things so difficult. Rarely, do we turn the microscope back at ourselves. But to become a better parent, we should.
Being an authentic parent means that you are real – you show a full range of emotions. But it also means recognizing when those emotions impact others in a way we don’t intend. To be an authentic parent also means having the ability to recognize a mistake, own it, and correct it.