Tips for Parenting While Anxious

Are you a smoldering volcano?

Photo by John-Mark Smith on Unsplash

Most people have heard the term “mom-guilt”. It’s that icky, no good, very bad feeling in the pit of your stomach when you feel that you just can’t measure up. You have to go to work. You have to sleep. You have to feed the cattle or pilot your North American X-15 jet. (I’m sure you have something similar on your neverending to-do list.)

Of course, it’s not just moms who experience guilt; dads feel guilty, too. I don’t think you can be a good parent and not experience guilt.

Guilt is your Jiminy Cricket. It’s the angel on your shoulder, whispering (or shouting) not to yell at your kids too often, or let them go months without bathing, or eat an entire package of cookies whilst binge-watching SpongeBob. In these situations, guilt guides us in the right direction.

So some guilt is normal and even healthy, but what happens when it’s excessive? What happens when anxiety joins the parenting party and you start to feel like a smoldering volcano, ready to erupt when your kid asks if he can ride the dog one too many times?

Let’s take a closer look.

Mount Anxiety

Yesterday, my son did a Very Naughty Thing. He peed on the floor. Why? I have no idea and I probably never will. But I didn’t…