There is a phrase that has quietly changed the way a lot of parents think about their children’s behaviour: Your child is not giving you a hard time. Their body is having one. It sounds simple. The shift it creates is anything but. What the Phrase Is Really Saying Behaviour doesn’t come from nowhere. Every …
If “calm down” worked, we would have stopped saying it a long time ago. Every parent has said it. Every parent has watched it make things worse. And yet we keep reaching for it — because in the moment, it’s what we have. It’s what we were told. It’s what was said to us. Here’s …
You pick your child up from school. The teacher says they had a great day. Five minutes after getting in the car — or the moment they walk through the front door — everything falls apart. Crying. Screaming. A meltdown over nothing. A complete shutdown. You’re confused, exhausted, and wondering what you’re doing wrong. The …
Most parenting advice tells you to stay calm during a meltdown. Knowing what to say during a meltdown — the actual words, in the actual moment — is what nobody gives you. This is. These phrases aren’t about fixing the meltdown. They’re about giving your child’s nervous system something steady to hold onto while the …