In its simplest form, living in the moment is about being aware of yourself and your surroundings. It’s about giving attention to your thoughts, and really, it’s about fighting the drift where your head gets taken away and you have no clue about the last five, 10, 15 minutes. And here’s the thing: Learning to be in the moment is not as complicated as you might think. You’re not looking to eliminate distractions because, well, you can’t. You’re just recognizing when you’ve pulled away and then re-gathering without judgment or self-criticism. And when you do that, whether you’re enjoying a cup of coffee or playing a game with your kids, you’re getting the entire experience because you’re focused on that very thing. |
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Being present takes practice. But if you spend some time training yourself to do it, you — and your family —will reap some incredible benefits.
How to Explain to a Child That You’re Stressed
If whatever stress you’re under makes you snap at your child, your first move is to apologize, followed by something along the lines of, “That was not a productive response,” says Laura Dudley, associate clinical professor of applied psychology at Northeastern University.
Once you’ve owned your behavior, it’s time to put a name on your feelings. Use small words; ones your kids might understand, advises Carol Landau, clinical professor of psychiatry at The Warren Alpert Medical School at Brown University and author of Mood Prep101. You can say, “I was a little worried, upset or grouchy” – they may not understand “stress” – but labeling helps them connect emotion and response, Dudley says.
Finally, it’s good to link your world to theirs. Saying, “You know how you can’t see your friends? I can’t either right now. t gets me frustrated.” You’re giving credence to what they’re dealing with because they think, Oh, Dad misses things too.
Here are a few more ways to explain your stress to a child in a healthy way.
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There's perhaps no parenting practice more loaded with myths and misconceptions than sleep training. Here, we help you wade through fact and fiction.
When Sleep Training Starts, It Should Not Stop
The key to conquering sleep training is consistency. Yes, it can be grueling. And yes, sometimes it can get emotional. But if these conditions cause parents to pause or change their sleep training routine, the process will just take that much longer.
Importantly, parents might reach a point where they might feel the process isn’t working. More than likely, if they hang in there, the results will come. However, parents know their children best and there’s always a slight chance that the sleep training method is misaligned to the child or parents’ temperament. If that is the case, then it will be important to pause and choose another method.
Here are a few more harsh truths about sleep training to keep in mind.
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