By Rachel Martin, LMFT
Child & Family Counseling Group is pleased to be teaming up with the Santa Clara County Library again to offer this parenting class on March 15, 2022.
Lately do you find yourself stressed out all the time? Is it hard to recall an interaction with your child that didn’t end in yelling or door slamming? The pandemic and the push to “return to normal” have led parents to experience new levels of stress that seem impossible to bring down. How and where do we even begin to bring calm and joy back into our lives? It can be overwhelming to know where to start.
Step One: Take a deep breath, and acknowledge the stress. Many of us just try to push through and get things checked off our To Do list. By pausing for a moment, we might discover that we feel terrible all the time! Physically we might feel run down, tense, frustrated and exhausted all at the same time. Emotionally, well, who has time to stop and really think about how we are feeling?! Many of us think “There’s too much to do, and if I stop, I’ll never get started again.”
By barreling through life, we lose the chance to stop and adjust course. Do we really want our quality family time to be full of stress, arguments and rushing? When my kids are grown, I want to be able to say that I really tried to slow down, connect and enjoy my kids (in between all of the activities). But how do I do that? How and where can I just connect with my kids? It sounds stressful!
Here's the thing, if we parents don’t stop now and take the time to learn a different way to be with our kids now, we’ll blink, and they’ll be grown. We might miss so many opportunities to feel happy with and enjoy our families.
Here’s what I propose you consider: acknowledge that the world won’t stop turning if we take a few minutes to pause, learn about ourselves and how to reduce our stress. In fact, one of the most powerful and helpful skills you can teach your child is how to really take care of themselves and learn how to move through difficult times.
The most effective way for your kids to learn these skills is to witness you working through stress. This means you give your child the chance to see you acknowledge stress, identify what’s going on inside, and then figure out a strategy that might help. And then, if that doesn’t help enough, trying a different strategy. Your child, and your relationship with them will be stronger and grow closer as they watch you figuring out how to support your own mental and physical well-being. Now is the time to try something different.
Join me online, March 15th from 6:30-7:30pm for a free parenting class!
Panicked to Peaceful Parenting: How to Enjoy Parenting Again (Most of the Time)
Register online through the Santa Clara County Library district's website: