4 Tips To Stay Calm With Your Child

Staying calm in the face of tantrums, mischief, or disobedience is no less than a challenge to parents who encounter these situations almost every day.

Do you often say “Stop crying” or “It will be okay” to your upset child and get frustrated when he/she doesn’t stop crying or is in a bad mood?

Although being busy with a myriad of things running on your mind throughout the day could get you easily upset with your child’s behavior, it is necessary to remember that children are still developing the skill to manage their emotions and need your help to calm down when they feel intense emotions.

Without your help or guidance, intense emotions could be overwhelming for the little ones, causing them to get upset and irritated.

What triggers you?

Is the behavior of the child causing parents to overreact, or is the stress that they are already going through making it difficult for them to bear these tantrums or difficult moods of a child?

When you’re struggling to put breakfast on the table, having some health issues, or having an overload of chores to complete, and your child comes crying straight from bed, you end up lashing out at the child for irritating you.

Most of us have been through such moments many a time in our lives. Have we worked on ways to deal with such situations, or do we still get impulsive?

Allowing your negative emotions to control you as a parent will never help your child calm down. It aggravates the situation, creating a tense atmosphere.

If you’re juggling work and family as a busy mom, here are some tips to help you save time: Time-saving hacks for busy moms

Calm down

Calming your mind first and thinking is imperative to responding to your child and dealing with the problem.

It is necessary to deal constructively with your emotions and allow your child to learn from you.

If your child sees that you’re struggling to control your emotions, he/she will not expect a positive response from you or may not be interested in sharing anything that’s bothering them.

A calm mind gives you control over your response to anything that could disturb or trigger you. Which in turn helps you stay in control of the situation, resulting in a positive outcome.

Bonding with kids

Reacting out of anger and frustration won’t transform your child into a disciplined and calm individual.

It could hurt the growing little one and make it even more difficult for you to bond with your child.

Sitting with your child when both of you are calm, listening, and responding positively, respectfully, and with firm limits gives your child the right message you intend to give and helps you stay in control of your emotions, too.

There are times when kids desire your attention and not advice. They desire to share their experiences at school, or play, and feel heard.

Jumping to conclusions or assuming things before the story is complete could bring trouble, as kids would find it difficult eventually to share what they go through in life.

This invites more trouble as kids could shut themselves off in such an environment, and not confide in their parents.

Better strategies

Using better strategies like positive reinforcement, setting clear and firm boundaries, helping in emotional regulation with activities that could distract them from frustrations, and redirecting their thoughts could help get children to calm down and feel better.

Although tantrums can’t be prevented, learning ways to manage them and teaching kids essential skills that help in emotional regulation is a tool to deal calmly and purposefully for a better relationship with kids.

Do you agree that accepting and staying in control of your emotions before responding to your child helps you have a better bond? Do share in the comments.