When you’re discouraged, frustrated, and exhausted by your children’s behaviors, and parenting is difficult, I hope these three mindset shifts will help:
1) Remember, you can’t protect your kids from process. Like film in a dark room, your children need to go through certain steps in order to develop into who they are supposed to be, and we can’t skip through or rush that process. Many of their difficult behaviors might be necessary steps in their development as a human being, and it’s our job to keep loving them and guiding them through.
2) Don’t make your child’s behavior mean anything about you. Parenting is difficult. And while our mothering can certainly help and support our children, we ultimately are not in control of their choices or of who they become. The only thing we can control is the way that we love them, and consistently working to get better at that defines a good mother, not the behavior of the children.
3) Let them feel their emotions. When we try to squash, silence, shame, or solve their emotions, we are again trying to rush their process instead of holding space for them to develop into who they are meant to be.
These three takeaways are not easy, but I hope they will be helpful to you in times when parenting is difficult.
I want you to know that I am rooting for you, that I would LOVE for you to join my nine-month program so I can get to know you better, and that I hope you have a beautiful week with your family.
What mindset shifts do you try to remember when parenting is difficult? Tell me in the comments below!
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My brand new program, Self-Assured Motherhood, is open for enrollment now through this Friday, November 5th at midnight, and I would love for you to join!
In this program, you and I-and a group of other committed moms and listeners of 3 in 30-will spend nine months diving into the nine pillars of self-assured motherhood, one per month.
For my episode today, I wanted to give you a taste of what this program will be like, so I am airing one of the calls that I did in a similar program that I ran in 2019 and early 2020 with a group of 20 amazing women who wanted to overcome overwhelm and claim more joy, even when parenting is difficult.
As you are listening to the episode, if you are thinking, “I would love to be a part of something like this,” please go to 3in30podcast.com/sam for more information, and don’t forget that enrollment closes on Friday, November 5th, 2021!
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- Jody Moore
- Episode: “Patience is a willingness to suffer”
- Video: “It’s not about the nail.”
- Being-With and “Shark music”
- Book: The Child Whisperer
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