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If you are feeling anxious, try focusing on calming your body (deep breathing, hot beverage, warm blanket etc) and watch your thoughts calm. It's much easier to do than the other way around. Our brain works bottom to top, not top to bottom, which is why it is so hard to think your way out of what you feel.
Join your child in their delight and communicate to them that their instincts and preferences are valuable and valid - this is key in developing their self-esteem, and play is the perfect context for learning and bonding.
Supporting a trauma survivor's felt safety means being present with empathy and patience, providing a space of safety to help calm their dysregulation and offer them a secure and grounding attachment relationship.
Learn how to overcome compassion fatigue and repair your relationship with your kids by owning your failure, offering delayed compassion, and starting the dance of connection again in this powerful video.