You'd be angry too.

When our kids are small, especially when they're not yet talking, it's sometimes easy to forget that they have opinions and preferences.

They have very little control over their lives and their only job is to explore - yet often when they do so they get stopped, told 'no', or dragged off to the next play date. They have to follow alongside us in everything we do, even when they'd rather not. They're not just crying because of "terrible twos" or because "kids cry" - they're crying coz they're over our bullsh*t!

So it's NO WONDER they
😭 protest their car seat
😭 tantrum when they don't get their way
😭 don't want to get ready to leave the house
😭 refuse to follow instructions

Our children's emotions and reactions to their environment are valid - they're allowed to have those very valid feelings in response to their situation, but often we can reduce a lot of their frustration and outbursts by just respecting them and seeing things from their perspective. Put yourself in their shoes when they're crying - would you have liked what just happened to them done to you?

Think about times in your day that you could:
🙂 slow down the pace and give them more time to do whatever they're doing
🙂 talk them through their day
🙂 acknowledge how they're feeling
🙂 gently explain why you're doing something
🙂 ask their permission before moving their body
🙂 giving them more freedom to lead and explore

A respected child is a calmer, happier child who's not constantly having to scream to communicate their frustration. And we could all do with less screaming!!

Tag a friend who's seeing some big behaviours.

Watch the full reel here