For all the parents out there who are finding lockdown challenging, this week’s episode is for you. I talk to Lindsay and Koes about their personal experience and how they’ve had to adjust their parenting and give themselves more grace during this unprecedented time.
We talk about how challenging it is to feel your own roller coaster of emotions as a parent, and to have to manage these at the same time that you try to manage and help regulate the emotions of your child. Not only that, this is a time when a lot of triggers are coming up, which could be causing even more pain and discomfort. For any parent that had a difficult childhood, this current crisis could be triggering your past trauma and reminding you of how unsafe and uncertain you felt back then. And to make things even harder, you can’t get time and space away from your triggers at the moment. You’re literally locked down in a house, having to parent your way through it all. It’s hard. We hear you.
Lindsay talks about the fact that the current situation is a recipe for a mental health crisis, and encourages any parent to drop the expectation of being a model parent during this time. When you think about it, unrealistic expectations of yourself aren’t healthy or helpful, so it’s time to release them and lower the bar.
We also discuss how to help kids talk about their feelings and anxiety, and the ways that you can show up for them and listen to what’s on their minds and in their hearts.
This is such a hard time, so whatever you’re feeling is totally normal, and we want to encourage you to give yourself a ton of kindness and grace. We’re all doing well at times and we’re all doing poorly, and it makes sense to be all over the place. It’s simply a reflection of the world at the moment. So it’s time to practice those self-compassion skills and build that muscle. When you judge yourself less, you open up more space for connection, and that’s what we all need now, more than ever.