Parental frustration, tt’s an inevitable occurrence when you are raising a child. You spend almost all of your time, money, and energy on raising your child, and sometimes it is still not enough. Every parent gets frustrated from time to time – it’s a normal thing. However, if you are unable to handle your frustration in a proper manner, you may find that it can have a very negative effect on the upbringing of your child. In this article, we’ll offer up some tips that will hopefully help you to get through frustrating times with parenting.
If you feel like you are frustrated with your children to the point where you cannot control it any more, the most important thing that you can do for both yourself and your children is to get away for a little bit. If you have a partner that you are living with, ask them to take care of the kids a little while and have a time-out for you. If you’re not with someone, see if a close relative can watch the children for a little while. In that time, you should read a book, go see a movie, or do something else that helps to calm and relax you. Afterwards, you can come back and address any of the problems that might still be present with your children. Giving yourself a little downtime can help you to look at situations regarding your children from a better standpoint which can be immensely helpful in keeping your relationship healthy.
Everybody gets angry at their children from time to time. However, it can be damaging to your relationship if you repeatedly take it out on your children. Try to get away whenever you feel your temper flaring up. Timeouts are not just for kids. When I get really upset I take a timeout until I calm down and can deal with the situation calmly. However there may be situations you have to deal with quickly and decisively. Try not to let your emotions take over, and try your best to remain calm. Getting angry can easily escalate the situation and won’t help anyone. If your spouse is available you can try to have them deal with the situation.
However, if you find that you are angry at your kids nearly all of the time, you may want to consider visiting a therapist that deals with family matters so that you can help to get some of those issues sorted out.
When you tell children that a behavior that they are doing is unacceptable, things can really escalate quickly. Your child may snap back at you, and it may begin a cycle that can continue into a full-fledged verbal war between you and your child. To that end, you should do something that parental experts refer to as redirecting. As opposed to simply telling your child not to do something, redirecting states that you should replace the behavior that you do not approve of with a solution that you do approve of that is of a similar value to the child. For instance, if your child is running around the house and you don’t want them to do it, offer to go run around with them outside for a little while. This can help to keep tempers down for both of you and make it much easier to maintain a happy relationship with your child.
Nobody said parenting was going to be an easy job. It takes a lot of hard work and effort to raise a good child, but in the end, it’s all worth it. Remember, no matter how tough it may get, nothing is more important than our kids and while there are times that may be frustrating, there are times it is all worth it and our kids make us so proud.
Keep with it, you will find rewards and joy when you least expect it!
Thanks for participating in this week’s Carnival of Family Life hosted at All Rileyed Up tomorrow, Monday, August 11, 2008!