Those days that you sit around and think to yourself, "I am the worst parent in the world because..." and sit around moping while you find quite a few bits of supporting evidence... The best thing to do is NOT to lie face down on your bed with your head under the pillow in the dark with you coat and boots still on. Because this gets sand on the sheets and makes your coat smell stinky with sweat. Also, it gets a little hard to breather under the pillow. And eventually your poorly-parented children will discover that you are there and that you have made no preparations for dinner and they might object. Or they might just feed themselves fistfulls of candy corn that you inexplicably purchased after Halloween because it was on sale. Thus reinforcing the whole bad parent theory. Better: drink a giant glass of water, play Louis and Armstrong duets super-loud and tap dance in the kitchen with you soon-to-be-4yo. And giggle loudly while you dance to the song, "I won't dance." Then talk to a friend once you have calmed down enough to realize that you are not, in fact, the worst parent in the world. And receive confirmation. Today watched a movie called "Killing Creativity" in which anxiety and creativity were linked in children. That highly creative and imaginative kids were often really good at freaking themselves out. This does not mean that all creative children are anxious or that all anxious people are creative. An I had never before thought of the connection. But often the anxieties that kids come up with are not at all reasonable. And I can see that imagination would be related to being able to see a tornado coming out of a clear blue sky. Or thinking that sharks are most likely living in the drain at the bottom of the swimming pool. Or that the monsters under your bed (who are friendly) will be killed by the mean monsters (who are not) if you leave your bedroom door open at night. So I will give my own imagination some credit in the anxious moments when I believe that any one thing that I have done or said or not done or not said will be the ruin of my children. I make mac and cheese too often. We don't serve brown rice. I am not involved in what they are doing. I am too involved in what they are doing. Grateful Crap: transient anxiety Equatorial Actions: took meds (150mg venlafaxine, 450mg bupropion, 150mg lamotrigine) I think this is right. I will double check. Really super love my pill minder now that I found one that has am/pm slots for each day and is large enough to fit all my pills. Ugh. tap danced calmed down Comments are closed.
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K. BuchananQuaker, teacher, parent, |