Search Results for: blog coping with anger as a parent

Single Parenthood for the Rich and Famous

Isn’t it nice to know that Madonna struggles as a single parent too? Excuse me while I go in the other room and scream! I may be a little bitter about it but if I hear one more extremely wealthy woman complain about how hard it is to juggle single motherhood and her career I think my head is going to explode. I wonder how many nights Madonna has walked the floor with a teething infant or been woken up multiple times by a toddler with night terrors and then had to take that same tired, cranky child to daycare … Continue reading →

Coping with Anger as a Parent

The baby is teething, your preschooler is throwing the temper tantrum of the century, and your six year old is boycotting homework since you won’t let him play his favorite video game. You feel your blood pressure rising, you’re ready to pull your hair out, and snap! We’ve all had those days when we’ve lost our temper with our kids. You feel so completely out of control and it feels like nothing you do makes a difference. Within a few minutes you feel terribly guilty and then without fail the cycle starts all over again. Kids are great at pushing … Continue reading →

Filmmaker Explores Fathers Coping With Child’s Autism

Parents often have a difficult time accepting that their child has a special need. This can be especially hard for fathers, who might not feel comfortable expressing their emotions about it with other people. A filmmaker named Charles Jones has created a documentary about his experience as a father of a child who has autism. When a child is diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, it tends to bring out strong emotions in that child’s parents. A parent might feel a certain amount of relief in finally hearing the term that describes why their child behaves the way that he … Continue reading →

Facing Anger after Diagnosis

Of all of the emotions we go through after the diagnosis of our child, anger is perhaps the worst one. We can sometimes hold on to anger for too long and it begins to eat away at us, and the person we were before diagnosis. We can hold a grudge against a disease. We can scream and place blame on other people. These reactions get us nowhere. In the face of chronic illness, there isn’t anyone to blame. There isn’t anyone to yell at or hold a grudge against. Trying to do so won’t cure the disease, but will make … Continue reading →

Anger and Sexual Abuse (4)

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In Anger and Sexual Abuse (3), we looked at how 35-year-old Jenna had been sexually abused by her stepfather as a child and was now taking out her rage at this injustice on the world at large. She had just lost her job as a lawyer and had come for counseling. Jenna had never told her mother of the abuse as she was too frightened to do so as a child and now as an adult, she didn’t see the point in raking up old wounds. Yet Jenna was in enormous pain. She couldn’t maintain long-term relationships due to her … Continue reading →

What Do You Do With Anger and Frustration?

Parenthood and family life are not nonstop bliss—even the sweetest, most angelic children can cause a parent a bit of frustration. The important thing is that we find healthy or reasonable ways of coping when we feel angry or frustrated. I tend to be a “cleaner”—I clean, organize, dredge out closets, wash rugs, etc. when I am dealing with family frustrations. What do you do? I have a friend who exercises away her parental stress. I know if I call and she is on the treadmill that there are likely family frustrations going down in her neck of the woods. … Continue reading →

The Parental Blame Game in Mental Illness

When a child is diagnosed with a mental illness, it is understandable that parents go through a series of powerful emotions, including fear, sadness, grief and anger. The parent questions: “Why us?” There is a real and legitimate fear as to what will happen to their beautiful teenage son or daughter who is suddenly diagnosed with schizophrenia, for example. There may also be disbelief, denial of the condition, and extreme anger. All of these are normal reactions for a parent to experience when the shock of diagnosis has hit home. Some mental conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and postpartum … Continue reading →

Coping With Short-Tempers

When I started to write this, I was really thinking about KIDS with short tempers and what a challenge it can be on an otherwise peaceful household. But, then I realized that there are plenty of short-tempered parents out there too. In fact, sometimes our kids learn that temper tantrums are a reasonable way of expressing oneself from us parents! I decided to expand the blog to talk about short tempers and temper control all around as a family issue… Having a short-temper does NOT mean that a person has anger management issues. In fact, getting upset is normal and … Continue reading →

Anger Isn’t License for Disrespect

Emotion is a good thing and inevitable. But, when the tempers flare and fly in the family scene, it isn’t a license for disrespect or bad behavior—either from parents or children. Learning how to face emotions, say and do what one needs to, but remain civil and respectful can take some focus—especially if you were not raised in a world where that is how things were done. Sure, we all lose our tempers. Parents aren’t immune to getting frustrated and losing perspective. But, it isn’t an excuse and it does not give us license to say and do disrespectful things … Continue reading →

Coping With Comparisons—For Parents

I’ve written before about how as parents we can work to not compare our own children with each other, the neighbor’s kids, or even to compare ourselves with other parents—but what about coping with things when OUR KIDS make comparisons and we find ourselves coming up short in their eyes? Whether our child or children are comparing us to their friend’s parents, a step parent or the “other parent,” or even mythological television parents, feeling judged and “inadequate” can be a tough pill to swallow. Over time, many of us just become incredibly thick-skinned to our children’s comments. That doesn’t … Continue reading →