We ALL have those days where our littles are driving us up the wall and we are about to lose our sh!t! The whining, the fighting, the nagging, the mooooooom 1,000x within an hour, the demands for another snack while their lunch is sitting uneaten on the plate...and you feel it all. The frustration, annoyance, anger and exhaustion are all just bubbling up to the surface and you aren’t sure you can keep it together for much longer. Well, I am here to tell you that you don’t have to!
You have entered Mom Meltdown territory and I am going to share my secrets to avoiding it! In this blog post I am going to share my 3 secrets to avoiding the mom meltdown and how to use them in everyday mom life.
Secret #1
Name your emotion. When you feel like you are about to lose your sh!t as a mom, start to name your emotion. What are you feeling? What emotion is it? What caused that emotion to rise up the surface? Where do you feel this emotion in your body right now? These questions all create awareness. Awareness is crucial because it allows you to be present and acknowledge yourself in that moment. Just like I talked about in this blog post about tantrums-- you want to acknowledge their feelings-- you also need to acknowledge yours!
Secret #2
Embrace and express your emotion. You heard me right, embrace your emotion. You feel angry-- let yourself really feel that anger. Where is it in your body? How does it feel in your body? How does your body want to release that anger? When we feel an emotion, it is our job to process it and allow it to pass through. When we feel a negative emotion such as anger or frustration, we need to process it in a safe and effective way. A way to do this is through somatic expression- expressing your emotions by letting them come to the surface and feeling them. Screaming into a pillow, hitting a couch cushion, jumping up and down and shaking your body, and crying are all ways to get that emotion out. Now before you think I am crazy for suggesting these things, think about this! When our littles are throwing an epic tantrum and they are kicking and screaming on the floor and then all the sudden they get up and go back to playing like nothing happened, they are literally doing this! They don’t know and live by “social norms” and haven’t been condition yet to “bottle up their emotions” They are SO smart that they know they have these feelings inside their body that they need to get out and they do it-- even if we don’t love the tantrum, I can respect the need to get those feelings expressed. It is the same for us, we need to express it. It can feel weird and you can think it is silly but I promise you it works and it is life changing when you allow yourself to feel and express your emotions in a safe way.
Secret #3
Use your body. We just talked about how powerful expressing our emotions with our body is. Our lungs and their function within our body is SO important. Breathing is the quickest and easiest way to calm ourselves when we feel a rush of emotion. Most of us are all breathing short and shallow-- rarely filling up our lungs and actually taking a deep breath. When you feel that anger, frustration, annoyance come on, name it and use your body. Start taking deep breaths. My favorite breathing technique when I am frustrated is to box breathe. Box breathing is taking a breath in for 10, hold for 10, release for 10 and hold for 10. Essentially creating a box. Not only is this calming your sympathetic nervous system but it is also an amazing model to show your littles. They see that when you feel frustrated, you breathe and they learn to do it too. I promise this one secret can change your life.
When you feel the Mom Meltdown start, come back to these steps and start caring for yourself right away! If you’re like me and want to go deeper, I have the thing just for you!
That is why I put together a short mini-course that helps you learn about yourself AND your little! When we understand each other, parenting goes smoother and becomes fun rather than a chore!
Aligned Parent Mini-Course is an easy and quick way to set yourself up for parenting success and change the way you act and communicate with your littles! What if you understood your child’s the fundamental reasons for why your kid is the way he/she is? There is a module on Temperament! Or do you know what your parenting style is and the different types? There is a module explaining and breaking it down for you! This mini-course will give you valuable and insightful knowledge that will change your parenting forever.
For $22 you get six mini-lessons that cover areas in development, parenting styles, discipline, challenging behaviors, temperament, and characteristics of strong families. With included workbooks you will be able to answer questions, take notes, and retain the information provided.
ALIGNED PARENTS MINI-COURSE
I believe parenting should be a fun and happy experience and sometimes that means digging deeper into ourselves and learning more! Helping burnt out moms is my passion because once upon a time, I was just like you! And if you want to take your burnout even farther, check out my FREE video training on Stop Yelling at Your Littles.
