Navigating Growth and Emotions

So, if I were to stick to the timeline, the next thing to talk about would be my breast cancer diagnosis, but to be transparent, I’m not ready to talk about it. A good friend encouraged me to wait and talk about it when I was ready. I don’t want that diagnosis to define me, so I am going to do just that and wait.

The purpose of this blog is to talk about parenting two boys 15 months apart. Yes, I will talk about some things I have gone through, and eventually I’ll talk about the cancer diagnosis, but not until I am ready.

Okay, where were we…

I feel like I blinked and the boys have grown. Maverick is now 2.5 AND POTTY TRAINED! And Walker is 15 months. Crazy, right?! Maverick is putting together full sentences, and Walker is in the phase where he is having a hard time with his emotions. If Walker gets overstimulated or angry, he screams at the top of his lungs and hits—sounds fun, right? It’s moments like that where I really have to check myself and remind myself he is 1 and has no idea why he feels the way he does.

So how do we handle big emotions?

1. Validate their emotions: We let the boys know that what they're feeling is okay and normal.

2. Label: We help them understand the name of the emotion as it comes up, e.g., sadness, anger, happiness, etc.

3. Coping: We teach them how to regulate or deal with the emotion, like deep breathing or trying to get them to relax.

But sometimes this doesn’t work, and a time-out is required, and that is okay. Remember, you want your children to respect you, not walk all over you.

There have been several times where Maverick has lashed out at Walker, and the only thing that helps him understand what he did wrong is removing him from the situation and letting him sit and think. Myself or Chance will sit with him and talk to him about what he did so that he understands he should not do it again.

Is this the right way? Who knows, probably not. There are several ways to handle emotions, but I know helping them be aware of and regulating them is so important.

Stay tuned! In the next blog post, I’ll tell you all the potty training tips and how we did it in 3-5 days!