Tag: Parenting

Spaghetti and Hurt Feelings

I am a pretty clumsy person. Like a keep-an-eye-on-me-around-closed-sliding-glass-doors, probably-should-never-eat-spaghetti-without-a-full-apron-on kind of person. Suffice it to say, my childhood nickname lauded my propensity to accumulate minor bumps and scrapes through incredible feats of un-coordination. I won’t tell you how old I was when I nearly broke my glasses walking into the corner of a doorway instead of through the doorway - although, to be perfectly clear, it was part of the transparent wall of a racquetball court…and that was the problem: it was perfectly clear.

 

Anyway, as my luck would have it, I’m also a pretty relationally-clumsy person. At times I completely miss that I have caused emotional discomfort or harm. I put my foot in my mouth routinely enough that I< ...

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“I didn’t mean to hit them! I just got really mad all of the sudden.”

“I can’t concentrate on anything right now!”

“I wasn’t trying to distract the class, I was just feeling kind of hyper.”

“I planned to go home to finish that project...next thing I knew, I had finished 4 episodes and a pint and half of Ben & Jerry’s.”

“I know I have to get my work done, but I don’t really feel like it.”

“I didn’t really want to snap at you like that...I guess I was just hangry.”

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My guess is that you’ve heard one if not all of the above statements at some point. Whether you’re a student, a parent, a teacher or an employee, chances are high that in the past week you or someone you care about has felt unmotivated, unable to focus, out of control of impulses and/or emotions. If you’re a kid, or if you’ve ever been a kid (that should pretty much cover everyone, I think) then you know the feeling ...

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