Would you ever slam the door in your hosts’ faces when they’ve invited you to dinner in their home? Of course not! That’s just rude. They’d hesitate before inviting you back, and they might even start to question their friendship with you. I encountered an emotional door-slamming earlier this week. I told my husband that I wanted to reschedule a trip. He has a project he’s been wanting to do that requires me and SweetPea to be away from home. Originally I picked a weekend off the top of my head, about two weeks away. As I started looking at what I wanted to do, I felt increasingly … [Read more...]
How to Handle Parent Mistakes with Compassion
Last night I blew it. Big time. SweetPea was nursing, and she bit me. At 10 months old, she has 8 knifelike teeth in her little mouth. Though she rarely bites, it sometimes happens when she is a little overtired. Usually I handle it by giving her a teething toy. But tonight I was just too tired to get up and get one from the living room. (I don't know about you, but my worst parenting moments always happen when I'm tired or desperately trying to get something done.) So I offered her a blanket to chew on. That seemed to do the trick; she chewed it for a few minutes, then came back to … [Read more...]
3 Simple Ways to Help Kids Deal with Stress
People who experienced a lot of stress in the previous year had a 43 percent increased risk of dying. But that was only true for the people who also believed that stress is harmful for your health. People who experienced a lot of stress but did not view stress as harmful were no more likely to die. In fact, they had the lowest risk of dying of anyone in the study, including people who had relatively little stress. ~Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D. I've been mulling over this TED talk from Kelly McGonigal for days now. Everywhere I turn, it seems like someone is talking about how they need to reduce … [Read more...]