Writing
fromPsychology Today
5 hours agoLoving My Mother, Unlearning Myself
Love and pressure coexist in mother-daughter relationships, shaping identity and fueling personal growth through grief and complex emotions.
#parental-readiness
#parental-readiness
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#parenting #family-dynamics #child-development #mental-health #communication #emotional-intelligence #psychology
#parenting
Parenting
fromSlate Magazine
17 hours agoWe Were Always the Most Laid-Back Parents We Know. That All Has to Change Now.
Introducing stricter rules for children can be necessary when managing a larger household, but it may lead to resistance from the kids.
Parenting
fromScary Mommy
6 hours agoOK, Are We Still Giving Kids "Chores" These Days Or What?
All kids should have age-appropriate chores to foster responsibility and teamwork in the household.
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
1 day agoHow Parenting Advice on Anxiety Misses Key Family Patterns
Helping children face fears requires parents to change their responses, not just focus on fixing the child.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 hour agoThe day I stopped waiting for my children to make me feel appreciated was the day I finally understood that I had spent thirty years confusing their love for me with their ability to express it - Silicon Canals
Understanding love's expression can liberate us from unmet expectations in relationships.
fromPsychology Today
10 hours agoWhen Anger Waits: The Turtle Technique Beyond Childhood
The turtle technique is often introduced to children to help them manage strong emotions, guiding them to pause, breathe, and step back before reacting. It sounds simple, yet it carries depth when practiced with intention.
Mindfulness
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
13 hours agoPsychology says people who keep adjusting their personality to suit the room aren't socially skilled - they're exhausted, and they've been exhausted since childhood - Silicon Canals
Constantly adapting one's personality can lead to exhaustion and loss of personal identity, rather than being a sign of social skill.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoPsychology says the unhappiest men in any room aren't the ones who complain - they're the ones who've become so skilled at performing contentment that they've lost the ability to locate their own actual feelings beneath the performance - Silicon Canals
Many men mask their true feelings behind a facade of competence and ease, leading to emotional disconnection and confusion about their own emotions.
Mindfulness
fromSilicon Canals
18 hours agoThere's a specific kind of resentment that builds in a marriage where one person does the invisible work and the other person benefits from it without ever realizing it exists - and it doesn't show up as anger, it shows up as the slow withdrawal of a woman who got tired of being the operating system for a life that everyone in the house treats like it runs on its own - Silicon Canals
Invisible work in a household often goes unrecognized, leading to imbalance and resentment in relationships.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoThere's a specific kind of adult who apologizes for crying even when they're alone, and it isn't sensitivity, it's the residue of a childhood where emotion was something you were expected to clean up before anyone saw the mess - Silicon Canals
Adults who were invalidated in childhood often apologize for their emotions, reflecting deep-seated patterns of emotional suppression.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoPsychology says people who constantly apologize for things that aren't their fault aren't being polite. They grew up in an environment where someone else's bad mood was always their responsibility to fix - Silicon Canals
Over-apologizing often stems from childhood experiences that teach individuals to manage others' emotions, leading to chronic self-blame and anxiety.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
19 hours agoI'm 37 and I finally understand why I keep saying yes to things I want to say no to - psychology calls it "fawning" and once you see it you can't unsee it - Silicon Canals
Fawning behavior leads to difficulty in saying no, causing resentment despite self-awareness and understanding of its irrationality.
Mental health
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoI grew up in a family where asking for help was the same as admitting weakness - and now I'm 66 and sitting alone with problems I don't know how to solve because I never learned how to say "I'm struggling" - Silicon Canals
Asking for help is often perceived as a weakness, rooted in deep-seated beliefs about masculinity and self-reliance.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoThe people who seem to have endless patience with difficult family members aren't necessarily more forgiving. Many of them long ago concluded that the emotional cost of asking for change was higher than the cost of absorbing the behavior, and they've been paying the cheaper price for so long they forgot there was ever a choice. - Silicon Canals
Conflict avoidance is often mistaken for patience, but it can lead to relationship breakdown and is linked to anxiety and attachment insecurity.
#relationships
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoI realized this year that every relationship I've stayed too long in was one where I had to be quieter to make it work - Silicon Canals
Compromising in relationships can lead to diminishing one's authentic self, resulting in a quieter, less expressive version of oneself.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
1 day agoThere's a specific kind of tiredness that belongs to people who are the default contact for every family emergency. It isn't the emergencies themselves. It's the low-grade readiness that never switches off, the phone always near, the nervous system perpetually on call for a shift that never formally ends - Silicon Canals
Being an emergency contact involves a constant state of anticipation and stress that affects overall well-being, not just during crises.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoThere's a type of adult who cannot receive a compliment without immediately deflecting it, and the deflection isn't modesty. It's the sound of a childhood where positive attention was always followed by a request, and the body learned that warmth was just the opening move before someone needed something. - Silicon Canals
False grounds in electrical work and personal interactions reveal how unacknowledged praise can lead to emotional deflection and avoidance.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
4 days agoNot every quiet person is thinking deeply. Some of them are monitoring. They're tracking the emotional weather of every person in the room because they learned as children that a shift in someone's tone was the only warning system available, and the monitoring never switched off even after the danger did. - Silicon Canals
Quiet individuals may not be shy; they can be monitoring their surroundings, analyzing social cues instead of engaging.
Relationships
fromSilicon Canals
1 week agoPeople who grew up watching their parents stay together unhappily often become adults who are simultaneously terrified of commitment and terrified of leaving. They inherited the architecture of endurance without ever being shown what it was supposed to protect - Silicon Canals
Children of unhappy marriages may develop relational paralysis, feeling unable to commit or leave due to learned endurance without understanding its purpose.
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
3 days agoI've stopped being angry that my adult children rarely call, because I finally understand they're not ignoring me - they're just living the life I worked my whole career to give them, and that's both the proudest and loneliest thought I've ever had - Silicon Canals
Children are overwhelmed with responsibilities, not neglecting their parents.
Miscellaneous
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoPsychology says people who were the "easy child" in their family didn't actually have fewer needs - they just learned faster than their siblings that expressing those needs came at a cost - Silicon Canals
Children who suppress their needs to avoid conflict often internalize the belief that having needs makes them burdensome, carrying this pattern into adulthood.
Psychology
fromSilicon Canals
3 weeks agoPeople who were labeled 'the easy child' often became adults who confuse having no needs with being low maintenance, and the difference between those two things is about thirty years of unasked questions - Silicon Canals
Easy children often grow into adults who suppress their needs, leading to quiet suffering despite appearing content.
fromenglish.elpais.com
2 months agoI don't like my mother': Why do children decide to distance themselves from their parents?
Parents hold a key that grants access to areas of their child's life that no one else can enter a foundational intimacy. However, more and more people are choosing to sever that bond and throw the key away. It's difficult to quantify how many children have decided to stop speaking to their parents, although some studies point to a steady increase in recent years.
Relationships
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoI asked 11 parents what their biggest parenting regret is and every single one described something they said rather than something they did - and the consistency of that pattern suggests that children's ears are more precise instruments than parents realize - Silicon Canals
Parents' spoken words create lasting regrets more than their actions, with negative statements profoundly shaping children's self-perception and identity development.
fromSlate Magazine
1 month agoI've Always Known What Kind of Person My Mother Is. Unfortunately, My 3-Year-Old Has Figured It Out, Too.
It's easy to get caught up in what we believe we owe our parents. But we shouldn't forget what we owe ourselves, or our children. It's great that your child was able to communicate her discomfort to you. She has let you know that she 'really, really' doesn't want to visit your mom. And now I think she needs you to pay attention to those things.
Parenting
Parenting
fromSilicon Canals
1 month agoPsychology says parents who provided everything materially and nothing emotionally aren't cold - they were loved the same way and genuinely had no idea there was another option - Silicon Canals
Emotionally unavailable parents often substitute material provision and gifts for emotional presence, translating affection into the only language they fluently speak.
fromSlate Magazine
1 month agoMy Boyfriend Is Very Wrong About What Makes Someone a Good Parent. I'm Not Sure I Can Marry Him.
He admires 'tiger parents.' He talks a lot about how the ideal parent is a strict disciplinarian, academically oriented, and pushes kids hard to set them up for future success. He thinks his teachers and his mom let him coast on his ADHD diagnosis, and vows that his kids will not 'get exceptions.' He thinks he would be more successful now if he'd had consistent parental pressure.
Parenting
fromPsychology Today
2 months ago10 Things to Do That Can Make You a Better Parent
Saying yes to your child means loosening the reins and indulging them a little. It means being as flexible as you can while still setting clear limits as you normally would. For instance, let them make a fort from blankets, pillows, and couch cushions, knowing this will create more work for you, cleaning up later. Let them paint their bike. Let them invent a cookie recipe which you help them make and bake, knowing it will likely be barely edible. You get the idea.
Parenting
fromIndependent
2 months agoOur daughter only wants her mum - how can I step in to help soothe her and share the load?
Young children often prefer one parent; gently stepping back and rebalancing caregiving duties prevents caregiver burnout and supports children's developing emotional regulation.
fromPsychology Today
2 months agoListen to Your Mother: What Children Learn by Eavesdropping
What makes me even crazier is that I know they can listen. I know this because they do all the time, mostly when they aren't supposed to. I can't tell you how many times I've been having an adult conversation with my husband and/or friends and my two children-who haven't listened to a word I've said all day-suddenly have very thoughtful and detailed questions
Parenting
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