Seeing myself in my daughter scared me.
I remember the feeling very well. My kids had just spent the weekend at their grandparents’ house. As I was picking them up, my well-meaning parent joked about how my daughter was just like me. “She just won’t shut up. Now you know what it was like when you were a kid.” Those words cut deep.
Growing up, I was a child who talked a lot, had a hard time concentrating, and struggled with personal boundaries. Never mind the diagnosis of ADHD in the first grade. The comments were relentless, perhaps in an effort to change my behavior. Those comments…
I spent hours watching other women live their lives on YouTube, and it destroyed my mental health.
Alright, I’ll admit it, I am recovering from an addiction to watching YouTube. Not just any YouTube, I might add, but mommy vloggers in particular. It all started when I was a new mom. I had just turned twenty, newly married, a new mom to a baby with special needs, and transitioning into being a stay at home mom living off of one income. I wonder how I ever did it, money was super tight, my marriage was rocky, and my daughter's future was uncertain.
A few months ago, I watched YouTube and stumbled across a man who was “exposing”…
How reframing your child’s behavior can make you a happier parent.
Cognitive Reframing is the act of identifying situations, experiences, ideas or emotions and subsequently changing how they are viewed. Using this tool in your parenting can make you a happier parent, improve your relationship with your child and increase your child's self esteem.
Cognitive reframing is traditionally used by therapists to help someone to properly deal with situations and thought patterns that would otherwise lead to poor mental health. When used this way it is referred to as cognitive restructuring. Thought patterns that are overly negative and unrealistic are identified as cognitive distortion. An example of cognitive distortion that an…
This is my story inspired by Sanders Early.
A few days ago I stumble across this article. It was written by a husband and father who told about his struggle with ADHD and anxiety and his decision to go back on medication so that he could homeschool his kids. As I read, I continued to nod my head in agreement and see much of myself in his story.
I was diagnosed with ADHD as a child and I have been on and off medication for most of my life. As a child, my family couldn't agree on the use of medication. As an adult, I stopped both times…
Carrie Eccleston
Wife, Mother to two, lover of cats and the outdoors.
