Mindful Parenting with Kelly Hamilton Part 4

Called to Love: An Adoption Podcast for Christian Parents

Welcome to this fourth part in our mindful parenting series with our amazing guest: Kelly Hamilton.

Kelly is the Founder and Executive Director of “The Connected Life.” She helps people build healthy connections to God, themselves, and others. She is a speaker, trauma-informed life coach, and podcaster. She and her husband serve foster and adoptive families in their home in Kentucky. You can find all her links here!

In this fourth part of our conversation, we are tackling reactive parenting. Let's face it, we've all done it: responding disproportionately to your child's actions, and this can happen for a variety of reasons as Kelly explains. We are likely dysregulated or triggered for some reason, and need to follow these 3 steps:

-Get curious: Am I thirsty, hungry, tired, or overstimulated?

-Make a plan to meet that need: Talk to your husband, friend, family member, to help get what you need in the moment, like a 5 minute break.

-Be consistent and keep trying. Changing habits doesn't happen overnight.

Our goal should be to build trust with our children and that comes through humility and apologizing when our actions go out of line, which in turn gives our kids an example for how they should act when they've messed up. We should be continually working towards a healthier place and acknowledge it won't be easy or perfect.

Thank you so much for listening!

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