As parents, we want nothing more than to help our kids feel loved and nurtured. When they are upset, every cell in our bodies leans towards making them feel better. We ache to have the upset stop and to do this, we use a calm voice, a warm hug. Yet often, in the throws of
Earlier that night my daughter had shown us some big feelings by screaming and crying when I set a limit for no more cookies. Now, even though it was late and much past her bedtime, I could still see we still had work to do. My daughter has a huge capacity for emotion. Just the
Teaching kids healthy ways to deal with anger is challenging. It means caring for myself, asking for help through the hardest parts, pushing hard against the door and letting myself growl, “how dare they act like this after all I have done for them today!?!”
Often times my son will walk by his siblings and push them down or punch them on their backs or yell in their faces. If they are doing something that irritates him, he will get extremely close and ball up his fists and visibly shake with anger.