By Holly Nelson, guest blogger
About every 6 months, 6 weeks, 6 days, or 6 minutes when you have a kid, something suddenly changes in his mind. And this will have a dramatic impact on life.
He will have a total meltdown. Be it a small thing: he doesn’t like the food he loved last week (or yesterday), and now you’ve got a ton of it and he’s refusing to eat it. Yep, heading towards meltdown city. (Oh, and guess what? Now you’re stuck with eating all those goodies for lunch for the next two weeks. Lucky mom!)
Or all of a sudden your child bursts into hysterics for 10 seconds and then is this loving cherub the next… You’re like, what just happened? Or 6 months ago, he had no interest in this very specific stuffed animal, but now OMG it’s totally a meltdown moment the second he can’t find that thing!
Has this ever happened to you? Of course it has! Who are you kidding if it hasn’t!?
Well, I’ve got a recommendation for you so you can take a moment and breathe. Because breathing is important when you have kids, for both you and them… More on that another time.
We all know and love (or in my mind we all should) a magic man named Gandalf the Grey from Lord of the Rings. There’s a scene in one of the movies where he’s standing on a broken bridge, staff in hand, screaming at a monster, “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” And, by all things magical, that beast (of course) does not pass.
So here’s what I recommend. You can visualize this in your mind or just go for it. Strike a power pose, standing up big and tall. Then, with all your might, take that staff and pound it on the ground. And yell, “THIS TOO SHALL PASS!” Because you. are. Gandalf. You have all the magic. Own, it, ladies!
And then take a deep breath. Breatheeeeee…. Take this brief moment to realize that this too shall pass. That whatever is going on in that little child-brain will not be important in 6 minutes, 6 days, 6 weeks, or 6 months from now.
Because, yes, this too shall pass.
Share your tips on how to deal with kiddie tantrums below or on Facebook at MothersRest.
About the guest blogger, editor’s note:
Holly Nelson is a black-belt wearing, Karate Mom and fellow mother of a male-child.
Photo credit, featured image: Slava Bowman from unsplash.com
Great post! Power poses and breathing both! TED talks has a vid on power poses. Seems a little comical but it’s (the “it” is life ) all a matter of attitude and outlook. Stand powerfully and you shall be powerful . I recently found myself in mediation and that is a fancy label for “negotiations”. In preparing I read lots of books about mediation . One book stated the following: “perceptions drive decisions ” – the thought here is that if there is conflict that requires mediation that often times a person’s position is based on incorrect or misaligned information . Correct the perception (or change it) and the outcome will work more in your favor. My point – a power pose creates a perception not only in the viewer’s/audience’s mind but also in the poser’s mind. Do the power poses! Practice power posing! Own your pose! And as you stand there with fists on your hips wearing your black pumps and looking “mighty” let the perception drive the decision made (by the viewer). And if a smaller person (aka: ankle eater) is the one you as the mom, are in negotiations with, then your pose is destined for a successful outcome. As my own mother use to say to me(when she wanted to get a parental point across to me), “I am older than you are, smarter than you are , and bigger than you are. You might overtake me eventually on two of the three but you will never be older than I.” She lived to be 97 yrs old (think Gandalf in spirit!). Funny thing is I only surpassed her on one count – size and it took all the power I could muster in my pose to accomplish that feat. Breathe and believe!