If you’ve got kids and they are any where near to being intense, sensitive, persistent or/and energetic, you’ve probably heard of the term ”spirited child” to describe these children. These children just seem to have more of something in them, that can make it a little crazy at home!
Why am I writing about spirited children today? Well actually I’m not. My intend is to write about spirited parents! Yep you’ve read that right. Ok, let’s not pretend any longer you guys. We all know that if we were blessed as parents with one of these amazing children, there are pretty good chances that there’s at least one of the two parents who also has a little more of you know… that intensity, sensitivy, persistence, and/or energy ๐
Now here comes the question? How do you parent a spirited child when you are yourself struggling with your own intensity, sensitity or excess energy? Not easy I can tell you! In our home we’ve got two ”spirited” children, and one that demonstrates her intensity, sensitivity and persistence out of necessity when the situation calls for it! And I have to say that the parent responsible for these results in our offsprings is most probably me Lol! My husband is the calmest and most patient person I’ve ever met, so he’s definitely not contributing to the rapsody of emotions in our house.
So what do you do? How do you survive? Well I can tell you with a lot of patience and compassion for yourself, as well as forgiveness all around. I’ve also come to realize that my weaknesses are my allies, which means my imperfections are actually guiding me in the direction I need to take to become a better parent and person all together. Please got check out one of my previous posts about ”Embracing My Imperfections” on this topic.
You Need To Take The Health of Your Brain Seriously
Now besides compassion and forgiveness, what else can you do? Well, as a nutritionist and brain health coach, I can assure you that you can not master your emotions if you don’t start taking the health of your brain seriously. For this, you not only need to watch the foods that you eat, but you also need to consider:
- the level of stress you are exposed to on a daily basis
- exercise as a tool to increase your feel good messengers
- creating tiny daily habits that feed your brain and mind consistently
- your mindset and what thoughts you nurture daily
Your mental wellbeing as a spirited parent is crucial if you want to be the parent AND person you are meant to BE. Let’s never forget that as parents we are also people with dreams of our own ๐ It is also crucial if you want to teach your spirited children one day at a time how to master their own strong emotions! They need us to be the role models we are called to be because truly only another spirited human being can understand the world that lives within them.
When I was a little boy, they called me a liar, but now that I am grown up, they call me a writer.
– Isaac bashevis singer
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