Don't Take it Personally

When our kids are grumpy, rude or just downright ornery, it’s super hard, but the work is not to take it personally.

Our children’s frontal lobes are developing; their hormones are changing. They’ve lots of feelings about what's happening in the world and what’s happening to them and all this comes out, oftentimes sideways. At us.

But, that's because we’re their safest place. And we want to be this for them.

What it means though is that we are the ones who get to see it all - all their moods, their mess and their unfiltered rawness. Many kids save it up all day long, steel themselves to act appropriately in public, until they get home and can let down with us.

It is our work to not take it personally. To stay as neutral as possible and allow them the freedom to have their emotions.