So much pressure to be the perfect parent.
Never losing it, always calm and gentle.
This narrative isn’t helpful for the modern parent – you haven’t failed, you are human!
Our children are the future, the next generation – no wonder we want to do right by them. So how do we nurture their emotional intelligence without breaking under the pressure?
Dr Anne Lane is a clinical psychologist and family therapist. Anne’s new book ‘Nurture Your Child’s Emotional Intelligence: 5 Steps to Help Your Child Cope with Big Emotions and Build Resilience looks at how our child’s emotions grow and develop and what we can do as parents to support this.
- Children read our emotions and struggle to understand them
- Helping our children to feel safe
- The emotional demand on parents
- ‘Good enough’, not perfect, emotional nurturing
- Give the emotion a space, a voice
- The ‘should’ and pressure to be ‘calm and ‘gentle’
- Using shame to control their behaviour backfires
- Acknowledging emotions softens them
- Balancing fear and courage, anger and sadness
- Compassion for your own emotions
- Five steps to help your child cope with big emotions
1 Aim for simplicity
2 Encourage acceptance
3 Respond with compassion
4 Increase playfulness
5 ‘Contain’ and connect to difficult emotions
Order my book, The Lasting Connection, here
Find out more about my upcoming group coaching for women who struggle with perfectionism and not feeling enough by messaging me – www.thethomasconnection.co.uk/contact-us/
Find me at www.thethomasconnection.co.uk
Instagram: @the_thomas_connection
Facebook: www.facebook.com/thethomasconnection
Pause Purpose Play Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/pausepurposeplay
This episode was edited by Emily Crosby Media
