Admit it: There are times when parenting can become overwhelming. Whether your child is disrespectful, unreasonable, or just plain rude, we all can become triggered. That’s when our emotions may grab hold of us and make us say things we don’t mean.

At these times, we are clearly not making our best decisions. These are the times when we raise our voices, threaten punishments we later have to take back, and just vent our frustration and hurt feelings. Sometimes, perhaps often, we can be too harsh, which can have us feeling guilty for days at a time. Sound familiar?

It can also seem like we have to be perfect in the way we respond to our children, yet our teens have no such limitations. They sometimes seem to act however they want, while we are expected to do everything exactly right. Yet, as much as our kids don’t always think so, we’re human. We don’t always stay perfectly logical in the face of disrespect and poor behavior.

Yet, it seems that, as parents,........

© Psychology Today