I’m thinking of you after a tough night of behavior in my household. If you have a child under two, these phases might be called leaps, developmental milestones, or wonder weeks. If your child is 2 or older, these phases might be called tantrums, back-talk, or off-track behavior. And if you are an adult, these phases might be called uncomfortable, irritated, or over it. All of this can make it feel like you are losing it in parenting.

The main themes of my work are feeding, sleep, development, behavior, and mindset. Though I focus on these for the earliest of humans, these themes are with us for all of life. A developmental milestone, off-track behavior, and being over it are all the same thing: discomfort with being pushed to our edge and needing more support. 

In my experience, adult off-track behavior including anger, frustration and irritation are pink flags (not red) showing parents that they are ready for something different. This could mean needing more support because they are not resourced to deal with things how they are, changing something small because they have reached a saturation point for how things are or completely stopping something because they have simply outgrown it. All of these reasons are ok and normal and expected. 

If you find that you are in a phase of off-track behavior, recognize that it may be time to make a change. Sometimes a simple shift is enough to reset your bandwidth.

If you need support figuring out how losing it in parenting is a challenge for YOU, don’t hesitate to book an appointment!

Until Next Time,

jen