Whether you call it a tantrum, meltdown or big feeling cycle, I think we can agree that these moments are overwhelming and stressful (for you and your kid). On today’s episode, we’re talking about what to do during a meltdown and the steps to co-regulation, which allows you to calm yourself and your kid at the same time.
If you're like most parents, you've had moments when your kid hits their sibling, they won't do their homework, they constantly ask for more screentime and won’t get off their device. Or you say “no” and it triggers a meltdown.
These moments can feel totally overwhelming. You might feel angry, resentful or like you are out of control and powerless in the situation. Your thoughts and feelings about your kid’s reaction can set off your stress response.
You have no idea what to do, so you yell and threaten. Then, you feel guilty and second-guess yourself as a parent.
There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re a great parent. Let's get you out of that spiral and back on the road to parenting with peace using the power of co-regulation.
When your stress response is triggered by a meltdown, you might feel like you have to do something about it right now. Fix it, change it, stop it, solve it. Your brain interprets your child’s behavior as an emergency and floods your system with a mix of hormones I like to call “stress juice”.
Your reaction might show up as yelling, threatening, talking too much, emotionally checking out or disconnecting. These reactions are all totally normal. They’re signals that you are becoming emotionally dysregulated.
Dysregulation, simply put, is a temporary emotional and physical state in which you’re struggling to understand and express your emotion in an appropriate way. We’ve all been there!
And it happens the same way for our kids.
The big challenge comes in when your kid’s dysregulation or big feeling cycle puts you into a dysregulated state, too. When you’re in your stress response, you can’t think straight. Your brain only wants you to react as quickly as possible to get out of danger.
As humans, we are going to get dysregulated. There are going to be temporary moments when we feel overwhelmed. The goals are to not get as dysregulated and to learn to calm yourself when you do.
This is self-regulation, and it’s all about calming yourself and your own stress response.
My programs teach you how to regulate yourself and how to give your kid the tools they need to self-regulate. We want our kids to grow up to know what they’re feeling, how to talk about it and what to do with that feeling.
So, how do kids learn these emotional literacy skills? Through a process called co-regulation.
Most moms are experts at co-regulation when their kids are babies. We swaddle and shush and soothe because we understand that they’re newborns. They’re going to cry, and they need soothing from us. They need to learn that they are safe and okay.
This starts to become more difficult as we reach the toddler years. When we start to see tantrums and meltdowns in 2, 3, and 4-year-olds (and beyond), we think “they should know better.” But they don't. They don’t know how to deal with their feelings yet.
In the Calm Mama Process of calm, connect, limit set and correct. Co-regulation falls into those first two steps. First, you calm yourself. Then, you connect with your kid.
When your kid has a big feeling cycle, it is not your job to fix anything or change the circumstance. Nothing has gone wrong. Take a pause break to calm your stress response, and then co-regulate.
Step 1: Get calm. Co-regulation starts with you being calm and present. This means that you must self-regulate before you approach your child.
Step 2: Name and validate their feelings, using the Connection Tool. Narrate what you see and wonder how they might be feeling. Help them name the emotion. They may not have words for it yet. Let them know that whatever they’re feeling makes sense and is okay.
Step 3: Listen. Maybe they want to complain or protest.
Step 4: Offer ways to manage their big feelings. If they want to hit, offer them a pillow or your hands. If they want to kick, offer to take them outside to kick a ball.
Step 5: Trust that your child can handle their feelings. Our kids’ big feelings can seem pretty scary to us sometimes. Deep down, I want you to believe that even when they’re sad or scared or mad…that they’re okay. The emotion is temporary.
Your kid might cycle through the same big feelings over and over again (which can be exhausting for you), but the goal is to decrease the frequency, intensity and duration of those cycles.
Think like a scientist and look at the facts. How many meltdowns were there today? How intense were they? How long did they last? If you start to see these numbers go down over time, that’s your clue that you’re giving them the tools to self-regulate.
Look at it as a learning strategy, a long-term parenting goal. Just like learning the alphabet and learning to read, you are helping your kid learn emotional literacy. And it’s one of the greatest skills you can give them.
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Welcome back to Become a Calm Mama. I'm your host. I'm
Speaker:Darlyn Childress. I am a life and parenting coach,
Speaker:and I help moms learn how to become calm.
Speaker:My program It's the calm mama coaching program, and this is become
Speaker:a calm mama. And so today's podcast episode is really
Speaker:appropriate because we're gonna talk about When you're not calm, we're
Speaker:gonna talk about dysregulation and
Speaker:what to do during a meltdown. When your kid is melting down,
Speaker:what they really We need is coregulation. So I'm gonna talk
Speaker:about coregulation and what what are the steps of
Speaker:coregulating during a meltdown. And you're gonna
Speaker:learn that a big part of coregulation is
Speaker:you being regulated yourself and becoming calm. So
Speaker:that is, I'm excited about this episode so I can share with
Speaker:you how to help your kid when they're dysregulated
Speaker:and then also how to help yourself. So I wanna frame this up
Speaker:and first just offer to you that there are
Speaker:going to be moments in parenting that are hard.
Speaker:Your kids are going to have big feelings. They're gonna be disappointed. They're
Speaker:gonna be frustrated. They're gonna be angry. This often happens
Speaker:When you say no, right, when you tell your child,
Speaker:they they they want something, like, they want a cookie. They want more screen
Speaker:time. They want another book. They wanna go on a play date. They they, you
Speaker:know, don't wanna go to school. They wanna stay home, whatever it is,
Speaker:and you say no, Well, then that might trigger them
Speaker:into some big feelings. Right? So we've all had these
Speaker:moments where Our kid hits their sibling or they don't stay
Speaker:in bed or they don't do their homework or they constantly ask for screen time.
Speaker:They won't get off their device. Right? They hit you. They have a meltdown.
Speaker:And in those moments, it is normal for you
Speaker:to feel overwhelmed. It's also normal to feel a little resentful.
Speaker:Like, hey, kid. I've already told you that you can't have a cookie. It's
Speaker:obvious that I'm not gonna give you one. You shouldn't even be asking, and you
Speaker:shouldn't get mad that I told you no. Right? So that feeling that you have
Speaker:is normal. Right? And you
Speaker:have your own, like, dysregulation when
Speaker:your kid is upset. So if that's happening to
Speaker:you, there's nothing wrong with you. That is a normal
Speaker:reaction to somebody Being reactive.
Speaker:Right? We talk about our stress response, and we talk about how
Speaker:sometimes we look at our children's behavior, and it
Speaker:feels like we are out of control, that we're being a victim
Speaker:from their behavior, that we don't have any power, that we Are
Speaker:vulnerable that their behavior is an emergency. All of those
Speaker:feelings and those thoughts create stress inside of us, and they
Speaker:trigger us into our stress response. They trigger us
Speaker:into thinking, fix it, change it, stop it, solve it. I gotta do something about
Speaker:it. Right? Now when that is happening to you,
Speaker:Right? I think of it as like a stress juice surge.
Speaker:Right? Because your body becomes overwhelmed with cortisol
Speaker:and Adrenaline and epinephrine and all of these,
Speaker:like, neural hemp core chemical hormones that come online
Speaker:to protect you. It's like your child's
Speaker:behavior is your brain is interpreting it as
Speaker:an emergency, as something dangerous. It's like your child's
Speaker:behavior is like you being attacked by a coyote or a cheetah or something.
Speaker:So, of course, you're going to have a stress juice surge. You're
Speaker:gonna feel overwhelmed in the moment. That's normal.
Speaker:Now what is happening, Right? Is that
Speaker:the stress juice surges, and then you go into fight,
Speaker:flight, freeze, faint, fawn. You have your reaction. You have your reactivity
Speaker:To the situation. So in parenting, you
Speaker:know, that can look like yelling. It can look
Speaker:Like threatening, it can look like going to logic and talking too much.
Speaker:It can look like emotionally checking out, walking away,
Speaker:You know, disconnecting from your kids in
Speaker:in, like you're not actually regulating yourself. You're just kind of
Speaker:disconnected from you and them. So
Speaker:this thing that happens to you, I want you to know is normal. There's nothing
Speaker:wrong with you. And I've heard a couple moms have been teaching teaching this
Speaker:class. And, you know, 1 mom was like, what's, you know, what's wrong with
Speaker:me? Like, I don't see other people yelling at their kids. I don't see other
Speaker:people having these problems. I don't see other moms, You know, losing
Speaker:their shit. Well, people are really good at faking it. I
Speaker:just want you to know. And, also, not everybody's nervous system is
Speaker:set at the same set point. Some people's nervous
Speaker:system doesn't get triggered as easily. That doesn't mean they're better than
Speaker:you. That just means it's easier for them when their kid is having
Speaker:a, you know, meltdown that they're not triggered.
Speaker:Why are you maybe more triggered than other people? I don't know, but some of
Speaker:the reasons sometimes are because of trauma, because of
Speaker:a codependent relationship in your childhood, because of,
Speaker:this insecurity in yourself, whatever it is,
Speaker:or it's just how you're built. Maybe you're a little spicy. Maybe you're a
Speaker:little fiery. Maybe you have a lot of thoughts and feelings and opinions.
Speaker:It's all okay. So what is happening to you
Speaker:is that you are becoming dysregulated. I remember I
Speaker:first started using the word dysregulated when I learned about parenting,
Speaker:like, what, 2008. And
Speaker:I was using this word, and everyone was like, what are you talking about? So
Speaker:weird. Like, I was calling my son. I would be like, he's dysregulated right
Speaker:now. And even some of my family members were making fun of me. They're like,
Speaker:he's dysregulated. Like, my siblings and in laws and
Speaker:stuff. I I tried not to let it bother me. I just was like, this
Speaker:is what I'm learning, and this is how it is. And my kid is dysregulated
Speaker:or I'm dysregulated. Started using this word. And now I've noticed it's kind of
Speaker:common in, you know, the mental health world, and
Speaker:and it's more people use the language. So it's cool.
Speaker:So I want you to begin to use the
Speaker:language with yourself because it is a very
Speaker:kind and loving way to describe
Speaker:your temporary temporary
Speaker:emotional And physical state.
Speaker:When you are in a moment where you're struggling to
Speaker:understand and express your emotion in an appropriate way, You
Speaker:are dysregulated. And if you can
Speaker:say, oh, I'm very dysregulated. I am upset.
Speaker:I'm overwhelmed. And if you could see me, I know it's a podcast, but I'm
Speaker:putting my hands on my chest like, oh, look. I kind of
Speaker:giggle. I've learned to, like, laugh almost when I'm
Speaker:In my, like, shit show state where I kind of am,
Speaker:like, almost humored by it because I it. It's like,
Speaker:oh, look at you. Look at you, girl. You're a little overwhelmed right
Speaker:now. Right? So you get dysregulated,
Speaker:And, also, your children get dysregulated.
Speaker:So a temporary state where your kid is
Speaker:Struggling to understand and express their emotions in appropriate ways,
Speaker:that's dysregulation. Sometimes it's called a temper
Speaker:tantrum. Sometimes it's called a meltdown. And on my program, I call
Speaker:it a big feeling cycle because I want you to use the word
Speaker:cycle so you understand it's a temporary situation. A
Speaker:cycle goes Up and down. Right? Or a circle or whatever, but it starts and
Speaker:it ends. And it starts and it ends. And it starts and it ends. So
Speaker:I want you to be able to see, Oh, we're in a dysregulation
Speaker:cycle or a big feeling cycle. So when
Speaker:your you or your child is dysregulated,
Speaker:You can't think straight. That's just how it is. That's actually
Speaker:what happens in a stress response is that Your brain is cut
Speaker:off from thinking because thinking takes too much time. Right? If I'm
Speaker:gonna be chased by a lion or a cheetah or whatever, or I'm I'm
Speaker:gonna be hit by a car or something like that. I'm not like,
Speaker:I wonder if I should swerve left or right. I wonder if I should run
Speaker:this way. I can't stop and think. I have to respond. I have to
Speaker:react. Right? That reaction is healthy and good and important in
Speaker:an actual emergency. So part of learning in this podcast
Speaker:is training your brain to view misbehavior
Speaker:as not an emergency, Especially if you can go, oh, look.
Speaker:They're struggling. When you see a kid
Speaker:crying or upset because you've told them, no, they can't have more iPad
Speaker:Or because you've told them they have to wear school shoes and they can't wear
Speaker:sandals or whatever is happening, you are basically
Speaker:their Cheetah in that moment, and your child is
Speaker:dysregulated. Okay? If you can view it that
Speaker:way, It might help you then apply some of the skills and
Speaker:tools that you're learning in this particular episode.
Speaker:So I want you to learn how to notice your child is
Speaker:dysregulated and yourself. Now what happens
Speaker:when someone is dysregulated? The
Speaker:goal is to self regulate. Right?
Speaker:That's the goal for all of us. It's Your goal for
Speaker:yourself so that you can become calm. It's not to
Speaker:never get dysregulated. That would be a crazy goal. It
Speaker:would probably mean you weren't a human.
Speaker:You are going to have temporary moments when you are overwhelmed with your
Speaker:emotion. That's gonna happen. So what you're learning
Speaker:is how to maybe not get as dysregulated in the 1st place.
Speaker:That's part of the mindset work. But when it happens,
Speaker:don't judge yourself for it. We're just gonna go, oh, I need to calm
Speaker:myself. I need to self regulate. Now
Speaker:My programs are designed to teach you to regulate
Speaker:yourself and to give your kids the tools so that they learn to self regulate.
Speaker:That's our big picture goal, lifetime goal for our
Speaker:kids is that they grow up, and they know What
Speaker:they're feeling. They know how to talk about their feeling, and they know what to
Speaker:do with it. That is our goal. That's emotional literacy,
Speaker:and that's what we're working towards. So that knowing what I'm
Speaker:feeling, knowing how to talk about it, knowing what to do with that, that
Speaker:that process is self regulation. So how does a kid
Speaker:learn it? They learn it through coregulation.
Speaker:They don't have the skills As
Speaker:children, to calm and
Speaker:soothe themselves. Remember last week's episode where I talked about
Speaker:rhythm, Relationship and reward are the 3 r's
Speaker:of regulation. And you think about having a newborn.
Speaker:I've got some clients who Have newborns or about to have babies. It's
Speaker:so exciting. And I know that they're such lovely mamas and
Speaker:that they're gonna swaddle their babies. They're gonna shush them. They're
Speaker:gonna shake them. They're gonna you know, not shake them, like, you know, bad, but,
Speaker:like, kind of, you know right? And they're
Speaker:gonna Jumble them up and down, and they're gonna sway. Right?
Speaker:So we have those ways that we soothe
Speaker:newborns and how we teach them, like, you're Safe. You're
Speaker:okay. And we talk to them in a soothing calm
Speaker:voice, and we come near and go, baby. You're crying. It's okay.
Speaker:They're little. They're like new newborns, infants. They heart they can't
Speaker:understand us. But yet, we go and we soothe them
Speaker:because we can see that they need soothing. So
Speaker:you're already experts at coregulation as moms.
Speaker:You have done it Hundreds of times.
Speaker:But what happens is as our kids get to be a little, like, a 2,
Speaker:everyone's like, oh, terrible know, we kind of,
Speaker:like, allow some temper tantrumming at 2. But then once they get to,
Speaker:like 3 is usually pretty easy age, actually. But then you get
Speaker:to 4, and, like, there's it's called the fucking fours for a reason.
Speaker:Right? And so you have your kids who are
Speaker:Totally, you know, having big meltdowns and temper tantrums and
Speaker:big feeling cycles, and all of a sudden you're like, no. They don't they should
Speaker:be they should know better. They're 4,
Speaker:which is really funny because if you have a 14 year old, you're like, of
Speaker:course, a 4 year old doesn't know better. But if you have a 4 year
Speaker:old, you're thinking they should know better. Ironically, if you have a 14 year old,
Speaker:you're thinking they should know better. But then if you have a 24 year old,
Speaker:you're like, they're only 14. My birthday's this weekend. I'm
Speaker:about to be 48, and I should know better. Right? But sometimes
Speaker:I don't Because I get dysregulated, I have
Speaker:temporary moments where I need support. I need to either self
Speaker:regulate and self soothe, Or sometimes I
Speaker:love it when someone comes near me and they are present
Speaker:with my dysregulation, and they come and offer
Speaker:me Support. So you are doing that for
Speaker:your kids. You are learning how to calm
Speaker:yourself And all the different things you've learned in this
Speaker:podcast, and if you've taken my class, we really talk about
Speaker:how to reframe your mindset Around misbehavior
Speaker:so that you feel calmer about it. And then when it happens and you're
Speaker:dysregulated, how to calm yourself. Right? That's the whole purpose of the program
Speaker:It's to calm yourself and then how to help your kids calm
Speaker:themselves. We do that through connection and limit set
Speaker:and correction. That's the calm mama process. Right? I
Speaker:calm myself. I connect with my kids, which is also today, you can think about
Speaker:as coregulate. And then I set limits to teach them what boundaries
Speaker:Are and how they work, and then I let them, in correction, have impact.
Speaker:So how do you coregulate? What are you supposed to
Speaker:be doing? Coregulation, it's defined
Speaker:as a warm and responsive interaction
Speaker:that provides the support, Coaching and modeling
Speaker:a child needs in order to learn and practice emotional
Speaker:regulation skills. So what
Speaker:what is it that you're actually doing when you are coregulating?
Speaker:The first thing Is your calm and present?
Speaker:So when we say it's a warm and responsive
Speaker:interaction, That is you going towards
Speaker:the person, the child, who seems to be upset.
Speaker:That means we're not putting them in a time out.
Speaker:We're not threatening them with a takeaway.
Speaker:We're not grabbing their body or pushing them or
Speaker:pinching them. We're not it's a it's warm and
Speaker:responsive. It's a calm presence
Speaker:Since with them, you go towards them. Now not every child wants you to
Speaker:go that close. That's okay. We wanna respect the little animal
Speaker:that's inside of them, that That little, you know, activated animal,
Speaker:it might not want it might feel very, very,
Speaker:afraid. Maybe in the past, you've come in a little hot.
Speaker:You've come in a little strong, and you're trying to to change your
Speaker:behavior. Well, your child doesn't know which mom is coming right now.
Speaker:So they might not need you to get so close, but you can be calm
Speaker:and present in your heart. That's the first thing we're doing. Now
Speaker:remember That if you are dysregulated, you cannot
Speaker:coregulate. What might happen if you're dysregulated,
Speaker:your child might try to, soothe you. That's not healthy.
Speaker:That's codependence. Or
Speaker:you will just escalate the situation and trigger them into deeper,
Speaker:fear, deeper stress. So we wanna make sure we're calm and
Speaker:present. If you're not able to do it, just calm yourself, take a
Speaker:break, and it's okay to let your kids self regulate. It's
Speaker:okay to let your kids sort of cry a bit and
Speaker:work it out. It's actually long term healthy
Speaker:for them to learn to self regulate. But, obviously, it's gonna take a
Speaker:lot more work for them, be much more tiring, and they're gonna be really messy
Speaker:about it. They might hit and scream and go to their room and throw
Speaker:stuff and hit their sister. Like, they might continue to be dysregulated.
Speaker:And the idea here is that you really do go and be present with
Speaker:them as much as you possibly can.
Speaker:Now if you're gonna go and activate them, don't do it. Just be neutral.
Speaker:Okay. So you're calm. We're imagining you're all calm. You You show up.
Speaker:Kid is upset. They're mad you said no. They're crying. They don't
Speaker:wanna put those shoes on. Right? Or they're older, and they're like,
Speaker:I hate homework. It sucks. My teacher's so stupid. Or they're you know,
Speaker:they refuse to do something that you've told them to do. Whatever's going on. So
Speaker:you're gonna be calm, you're in present, and then you're gonna validate their emotion.
Speaker:What's that mean? It's a connection tool. Right? It's going
Speaker:in and saying, I I see
Speaker:you're, you know, screaming or, you know, you're you're yelling,
Speaker:I hate you or, You know, you're crying. You're kinda trying to
Speaker:show that they're showing some behavior, that there's something
Speaker:on the outside that you can see, and you're connecting the thing on the
Speaker:outside with the thing on the inside. So you're like,
Speaker:oh, you know, like, I see or you can you don't have to have, nice
Speaker:affect. You can be like, wow. I hear you. You are yelling. I
Speaker:hate you. And then we go to the validate the emotion. I wonder if
Speaker:you're feeling angry. I wonder if you're feeling disappointed. I wonder if
Speaker:you're feeling hurt. So however you kind of
Speaker:go in there, we're Validating the emotion
Speaker:by helping them name it. They don't know what
Speaker:it's called. They don't know. They kinda know
Speaker:words like frustrated. You know, little kids, they kinda
Speaker:know really were big words. Like, some of them some of my clients' kids will
Speaker:be like, I'm dysregulated because they've been taught.
Speaker:That's great. That's using your words. So we have to give them words in order
Speaker:for them to No. Right? So we're validating their
Speaker:emotion. Of course, you're hurt. Of course, you're sad. I
Speaker:love to say, it makes sense that you're angry. It makes sense that you're
Speaker:mad. It's one of my favorite phrases. That makes sense. That makes
Speaker:sense. It's okay. Right? So So then
Speaker:we're gonna listen. Maybe they have some things to complain about.
Speaker:Maybe they wanna do a little protest. And then We're gonna
Speaker:offer ways to manage their big feelings. So we're
Speaker:gonna be like, yeah. Of course, you're really mad. Do you wanna hit
Speaker:this? You're hitting The wall or you're kicking the wall do you wanna kick
Speaker:something? Let's kick this. Woah. You have a
Speaker:lot of big energy. Hey. Let's go outside with that big energy or show me
Speaker:how Big this energy is, show me with your body.
Speaker:Right? We're giving them some tools. I go into
Speaker:that a lot in the course. But you can use your best
Speaker:judgment. Come up with some ideas. Things that kids can do with their big
Speaker:feelings. And this last one Is
Speaker:you know, what to do when your child is dysregulated is really
Speaker:important, and it's this. Trusting
Speaker:That your child can handle their feelings.
Speaker:We wanna deeply know That this
Speaker:feeling, if our kid is hurt, disappointed,
Speaker:sad, scared, angry, any emotion,
Speaker:We wanna believe that they can handle that emotion,
Speaker:that you're there to help them and support them And
Speaker:validate that emotion and give them some tools. But deep down, I
Speaker:want you to believe that they are okay even
Speaker:when they're sad, That they're okay even when
Speaker:they're so scared. That it's okay
Speaker:for them to be that way, and it's temporary
Speaker:That they can overcome that emotion at that time.
Speaker:Now some kids have big feeling cycles over and over and over and over
Speaker:again. That's okay. I want you to some
Speaker:days, like, you had a 4 year old and they don't nap anymore, you're gonna
Speaker:have a lot of big feeling cycles from, like,
Speaker:2 on. 3:3 o'clock on.
Speaker:It's like, yeah. Get that kid to bed. Like, honestly, when Sawyer
Speaker:dropped his nap, He went to bed at 5:30, you guys.
Speaker:He was so he was such a mess. I would just be like, put him
Speaker:to bed. And, I mean, I don't even know if he knows this. He doesn't
Speaker:listen to the podcast, but Lincoln and I would pretend that he was
Speaker:going to bed too. And, like, we would put on pajamas and everything like that
Speaker:and, like, brush our teeth, and Lincoln would go to his room. And then Sarah
Speaker:would fall asleep really fast, and then we would just, like, keep going with our
Speaker:evening. Lincoln used to do, like, evening events, and my friends would have
Speaker:to drop you know, pick him up because Sarah was asleep and Kevin wasn't home.
Speaker:So There are times when our kids have a lot of big
Speaker:feelings, and they they might cycle through over and over and
Speaker:over again. That's exhausting for you. I get it.
Speaker:But those are we're looking to try to decrease
Speaker:frequency, intensity, and duration. So we
Speaker:wanna try, like okay. Maybe they have 4 or 5 in a day.
Speaker:Okay. That's okay. That let's just be, like, like, almost like data
Speaker:scientist. Like, okay. For today, what's that about? What's
Speaker:going on? And then, like, let's see how long did they last? How intense were
Speaker:they? Let's see if we can Lower the temperature a little bit.
Speaker:Less intense. Right? How you're looking to see your
Speaker:kids decreasing in their big feeling cycles
Speaker:In the duration of them, how long they last, how frequent they are, and how
Speaker:intense they are, and that's your clue that you're giving them the
Speaker:tools to self regulate. You have to see it as
Speaker:a learning strategy. You don't expect,
Speaker:like, a kid to learn how to read the first
Speaker:time they are exposed to the alphabet. Right?
Speaker:You're not like, oh my god. They're illiterate. They don't know how to read yet,
Speaker:and I've already taught them the alphabet, like, 5 times. Like,
Speaker:no one would ever say that. But yet when you
Speaker:are teaching your kid emotional literacy, It's
Speaker:like, they're still having meltdowns. Yeah.
Speaker:Because they're at only at the, like, you know, Being able to
Speaker:sound out cat, like cat. Right? They're not able to see read
Speaker:sentences yet. That's how they are in their emotional literacy. Like, Oh, yeah. They can
Speaker:name the feeling, but they don't know what to do with it. Cool. They can
Speaker:name it. Amazing. That's fine. I want you to see it
Speaker:as A long term parenting goal.
Speaker:Alright? So when your kid has
Speaker:a big feeling cycle, They are dysregulated,
Speaker:and it is not your job to fix anything.
Speaker:Nothing has gone wrong. You don't need to change
Speaker:the circumstance, give them the candy anyway, or
Speaker:let them skip school, or don't let them you know? You can still
Speaker:hold those boundaries and let your kids have their big
Speaker:feeling cycle. So in the middle of that big feeling cycle, if you need to
Speaker:take up if you cannot Regulate with them. Go take a pause break.
Speaker:It's always a benefit to you and to your child. Take time to reset your
Speaker:stress response. Self regulate, And then
Speaker:coregulate. Being calm and present,
Speaker:validating that emotion. It makes sense. Makes sense you would
Speaker:feel upset. Listen and soothe.
Speaker:Yeah. Okay. Tell me more. What's going on? And
Speaker:then, Okay. Well, you know what? Those big feelings make sense. So why don't
Speaker:we go ahead and take those big feelings? We push them out of our body
Speaker:a little bit. Right? Or older kids like, wow. You have some big
Speaker:feelings. Why don't you go ahead and take some you know, go to your room
Speaker:and, like, listen to some music kinda loudly? You can give them some
Speaker:options, and then you're trusting. Yep. Temporary. If
Speaker:you look at your child, you're like, they're so sad. Oh
Speaker:my god. They're gonna be so mad at me, and, oh my god. It's gonna
Speaker:if you're freaking out about their big feelings, they're gonna freak out about
Speaker:their big feelings, they're not gonna get over them as fast. So the
Speaker:idea there is that you are really confident.
Speaker:Yep. Of course. Yep. Makes sense. You can have those
Speaker:big feelings. It's okay. Can you hit your brother? No.
Speaker:No. Everybody stays safe in this house, But you can be really mad. You can
Speaker:be Superman. You need to hit something. Go hit this thing. Hit mommy's
Speaker:hands. I love that. Like, offering your kid, like, you put your hand
Speaker:up, And then you're like, go ahead. Well, up to, like, 6 or 7. Okay?
Speaker:Don't do this with, like, a 14 year old. That might hurt you. But like
Speaker:a little kid, you can be like, put your go ahead. Punch mommy. Punch mommy's
Speaker:hand. Your body. Right? You just wanna give them a way to
Speaker:push those big feelings. I like to say, you know,
Speaker:Oh, you got big feelings. Let's dump them out. Let's dump them. Right? And you
Speaker:can do this up till 8 or 9. When in my my course,
Speaker:I teach you about the big feeling basket, you're let's go to big feeling basket.
Speaker:Let's go find something and do this up till 10. So all of these strategies
Speaker:are up till 10, but then coregulation happens all along.
Speaker:With my teenagers and when they were, you know, young adolescents,
Speaker:I really just had to kinda, like, listen for a while, validate. Yeah. Sounds
Speaker:hard. That makes sense. Of course. You're really mad at dad. I understand.
Speaker:Or like, man, that kid is annoying. Yeah. Okay.
Speaker:Yeah. We're listening. I'm with a compassionate witness, and then I'm
Speaker:like, hey. I'm actually at capacity. I'm not open to
Speaker:listening to this anymore. So, how
Speaker:to handle that protest? I give you Some strategies in the newsletter that
Speaker:I sent out on Tuesday this past week. If you're listening to this live if
Speaker:you don't get my newsletters, Like, if you listen to the
Speaker:podcast, but you're not subscribed to my you
Speaker:know, in my audience to my newsletter, You're missing out on
Speaker:some really good stuff. So I
Speaker:encourage you to go to calm mama coaching .com, my
Speaker:website, And start honestly with the stop yelling cheat
Speaker:sheet that's right there at the top. You know, you'd sign up for
Speaker:that. You get the pause break. You get all these Strategies to calm yourself,
Speaker:and then you get to be on my newsletter. I send
Speaker:1 on Tuesdays and then the podcast email on Thursdays. And then if I'm promoting
Speaker:Oh, and, like, telling you about a new class, then I'd send quite a
Speaker:few right back the week before so that you don't miss
Speaker:it. And that is happening. Actually, if you're listening to this
Speaker:live, the emotionally healthy kids class is starting again. We're starting the
Speaker:fall session. It's a 6 week class with 6 months of additional,
Speaker:private coaching with me, and that class starts October 12th.
Speaker:We're meeting Thursday mornings at 9 AM Pacific, 12
Speaker:PM eastern. And it's for people
Speaker:with kids ages 3 to 11. So that's the this class. And
Speaker:you just learn all all the stuff. All things you learn on the podcast, you
Speaker:learn in the class, but with me teaching live. The classes are
Speaker:not haven't been that big, so you get a lot of personalized attention. And then,
Speaker:of course, you get to be in my coaching program for, 6
Speaker:additional months after that. The cost is $500. Enrollment is
Speaker:open. Highly recommend it. I'm not gonna offer it again for
Speaker:a while, I think. I don't know. We'll see how this one goes. But I
Speaker:was planning not to offer it again till March of next year, which is a
Speaker:long time. So do it now, and, I hope you have
Speaker:a great week, and I hope you feel really regulated all week
Speaker:long. Alright, mamas. I will talk
Speaker:to you