Have you been wondering: "How can I get it all done?"
Overcoming Being Overwhelmed is possible.
Too much to do? Too little time to do it? Too many tugs on your time and your heart?
Have you been wondering: “How can I get it all done?” Does it seem like you are walking through mud?
Are you wondering how best to discipline (which means to teach)? Are you wondering what you should do in those difficult moments?
Do parenting challenges seem overwhelming?
Is it hard to find joy while parenting?
Do you find yourself being overly reactive?
Are you overwhelmed by all of life’s obligations?
There are so many parents who are overwhelmed… Loving and caring parents.
Overcoming Being Overwhelmed While Parenting is possible. Parents can take steps to minimize the struggle, the overwhelm.
You can begin your journey of discovering your path towards reducing what is overwhelming you.
Over the years, travelers have stacked rocks, known as cairns, to mark their path. Parents can discover and map out their best path forward, too…
This website is about helping parents who are physically overwhelmed by parenting and life’s circumstances.
If you are feeling emotionally overwhelmed, please see the link at the bottom left-hand corner for resources that may help.
Over Being Overwhelmed
So many resources that help folks who are overwhelmed focus on getting rid of clutter and getting organized and simplifying the family’s schedule. Finding relief from being overwhelmed while parenting is more than that. It is about being able to get calm in order to access your positive parenting tools. To use a tool, you must be able to get to it.
Signs of being overwhelmed: Lack of follow through, hard to read, sleep, eat healthy, find joy, don’t tend to friendships, miss out on fun.
Being physically overwhelmed can be due to life’s circumstances. Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching helps parents manage the physical circumstances in family life which can cause parents to be overwhelmed. Being overwhelmed by life’s circumstances impacts parenting.
Why is managing being overwhelmed so important? Because being overwhelmed can contribute to a parent being more reactive. When one is more reactive, it is harder to be responsive. Being a responsive parent can help one to be more likely to parent using effective parenting tools which strengthen the parent-child/parent-teen relationship. Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching can help parents move from being reactive to being more responsive.
Being reactive happens in the Emotion Brain. Being responsive happens in the Thinking Brain. What is the difference? Dr. Daniel Siegel, a professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine, explains:
Extended version (just over 8 minutes): Dr. Dan Siegel’s Hand Model of the Brain – YouTube
Short version (about 2.5 minutes): Dr Daniel Siegel presenting a Hand Model of the Brain – YouTube
How can one become more responsive and less reactive?
Reaction: Something difficult happens –> A Reaction is an immediate/instant action.
Response: Something difficult happens –> Stop for a moment, Pause, Breathe and Think about what to do next. Then, Respond. A Pause is sometimes called a Sacred Pause. In parenting it can be called a Parenting Pause. To be more responsive, one can practice stopping, pausing, breathing, then thinking and then responding. A Response is an action after thinking. Mindfulness is a one way to practice stopping, pausing, breathing. Fortunately, there are many resources available for those interested in learning more about mindfulness.
Being overwhelmed can lead to more stress which may lead one to being more reactive. Perhaps, causing one to have a “shorter fuse.” Tackling/minimizing what overwhelms you, can make you less reactive. If you are less reactive, then you are more responsive.
- Keep reading to learn more
Being overwhelmed makes parenting harder.
- Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching focuses on helping parents be less likely to:
- Become emotionally upset
- Be reactive
- Lose control and “Snap”
- Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching helps parents manage being overwhelmed so that they can:
- be more responsive
- put the brakes on hurtful behavior and hurtful words
- build up the parent-child/teen relationship even during difficult times
What causes a parent to be overwhelmed? It happens to wonderful parents.
Why does Over Being Overwhelmed
Parent Coaching focus on
encouragement and solutions?
- Encouragement: We solve problems by looking for the positive. We do not solve problems by focusing on the negative/the problems. When climbing out of a hole, we need to grab onto a ladder rung. When solving a problem, your problem-solving skills are your ladder rungs…your way to climb out. Encouragement helps parents focus and strengthen their problem-solving skills.
- Solutions: Overwhelmed parents may need guidance to help them find solutions/ways to minimize being overwhelmed.
- Stacked rocks or cairns have historically been guideposts/markers showing which way to go on a certain path. They point in the direction that one should take.
- Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching helps parents discern which path to take, to discern which path will help you parent in a less emotional, more calm manner. Parenting “cairns” can help parents find their way.
- Over Being Overwhelmed Parent Coaching can help parents create order out of the chaos found in family life. The approach can help parents manage the cause of being physically overwhelmed due to your life’s circumstances.