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Is it just me or does anyone else rehearse school pickup conversations in the car? Like I need a script for small talk with other parents because all my energy went into holding space for my kid all morning and I have nothing left for "so how was your weekend?"
– Anonymous · a while ago
8 hearts are with you.
Today my kid said "my brain is like a browser with 100 tabs open." He's eight. I laughed and said "mine too, buddy." And for a second we were just two humans figuring it out together. That's the good stuff.
– Anonymous · a while ago
10 hearts are with you.
The guilt of knowing I wasn't regulated enough today. The guilt of snapping. The guilt of not knowing sooner. The guilt of knowing now but still getting it wrong. Does the guilt ever get quieter?
– Just me · a while ago
11 hearts are with you.
Does anyone else feel like they're parenting in a completely different language than everyone around them? My friends talk about consequences and reward charts and I'm over here trying to decode nervous system states and co-regulate through meltdowns. I don't fit in the parenting groups anymore.
– Anonymous · a while ago
14 hearts are with you.
We had the most beautiful bedtime last night. No rush, no agenda. She told me about a dream she had where colours had sounds. I didn't correct her or explain synesthesia. I just listened. And she said "you're the only person who doesn't make my brain feel wrong."
– Anonymous · a while ago
16 hearts are with you.
My son and I have this thing now where we press our palms together when words are too hard. No talking. Just warmth. He started it. Kids know what they need — we just have to stop long enough to notice.
– Mama bear · a while ago
11 hearts are with you.
The school called again. "She needs to learn to sit still." She's six. She processes the world through movement. Why is the system so determined to make her small? I'm exhausted from advocating. Some days I don't have the fight left in me.
– Anonymous · a while ago
13 hearts are with you.
I lose it too. I'm not proud of it. Yesterday I shouted over something so small and then watched his face crumble and I thought — I'm supposed to be the safe place. How can I be the safe place when I'm the storm? I'm trying. I'm really trying.
– A tired dad · a while ago
16 hearts are with you.
Take a breath. You don't have to carry all of this.
He asked me to stop singing. Not because he doesn't love me — because the sound was too much right then. Once I stopped taking it personally, everything shifted. Now I ask first. "Is sound okay right now?" Such a small question. Such a big difference.
– Anonymous · a while ago
10 hearts are with you.
My daughter hid under the table at her birthday party. Everyone kept saying she was being dramatic. But I could see it — the noise, the faces, the expectation to perform happiness. She wasn't being difficult. She was overwhelmed. I sat under the table with her and we counted candles on our fingers until she was ready.
– Sarah · a while ago
14 hearts are with you.