Dear Anger

Ed and Renee are here with a solution for limiting screen time and making kids love it. Ha! Just kidding! Parents get angry when kids spend too much time on electronic devices. Kids get angry when they're told to turn them off. The battle over time spent on video games and phones is common in every home, and it’s not going away. While there is no fix-all tool, we do have plenty of strategies and advice for helping parents maintain boundaries without losing their temper.

Mess! Mess everywhere! Show me a neat and tidy child, and I'll show you a myth. Yet, our expectations as parents are often much different. We think they "should" be able to clean up. They "should" think to make their bed every morning. They "should" offer to help with chores. When expectations are not reality, we get triggered, and the battles begin. Listen in as Ed and Renee examine the science of organization, brain development, and the anger that surrounds it all.

So much anger comes from unmet expectations, or feeling like things should be different than they are. Our kids “should” be happy with what they have. Our kids “should” show more gratitude for everything we do for them. But maybe our feelings are more closely connected to theirs than we think. Maybe it’s not a lack of gratitude our kids feel, but something else all together. In this episode, Ed and Renee discuss ways we can connect with and understand “ungrateful” kids, and transform the anger we feel over the “shoulds.”

Kids can really dig their heals in when they want to. Parents of strong-willed kids know exactly what we mean. But here's a secret: where there is a strong-willed child, more often than not there is a strong-willed parent. And when two humans refuse to give ground, nobody gets anywhere. In this episode, Ed and Renee explore ways to change from “parent versus child,” to “us versus the problem.” Learn how just a little bit of child autonomy can go a long way for your family.

“I hate you, Mom!” “Dad, you’re so embarrassing!” “I like it at Mom’s house more.” Kids are sometimes good at saying things that hurt us. And when they do, let’s face it: we get pretty angry. But is that really the way we want to show up in those situations? Ed and Renee have plenty of experience helping people transform their emotions, and this episode is loaded with tools for transforming hurt feelings and anger into compassion and understanding.