How to Stop Being an Anxious Parent and Enjoy Your Child

Feeling the pressures of parenting? We all do at some point or another. One of my friends used to tell me that she was being driven crazy by everyone’s opinions about the way she was raising her kids. When you add sleep deprivation to the mix, the piling amount of jobs needing to be done around the house etc, it can feel overwhelming.

Most of the time, our children pick up on our anxiety–and therefore also show signs of anxiety or they play up to get our attention–setting up an unpleasant cycle. As the adult, you can set an example of anxiety management and create a calmer environment in your living space.

The following article is written by Janet Lansbury. She is unique among parenting experts. As an RIE teacher and student of pioneering child specialist Magda Gerber, her advice is not based solely on formal studies and the research of others, but also on her twenty years of hands-on experience guiding hundreds of parents and their toddlers. Here are some excellent tips on how we can calm ourselves and not parent from an anxious state:

How to Stop Being an Anxious Parent and Enjoy Your Child

The intense performance pressure many of us feel as new parents combined with all the physical challenges — sleep deprivation, hormonal changes, recovery from the birth, etc. — can easily launch us into a cycle of anxiety. This is compounded in cases where our baby faces health complications, colic, or other issues.

I’ve been there and was so grateful to find my way out through the wisdom and support of infant expert Magda Gerber. Through Magda’s teachings, I learned that an anxious, panicky, high-intervention approach will tend to create even more distress for our babies. In turn, their discomfort will amplify our anxieties, and so the cycle begins. In other words, a key to raising a less stressed, more self-confident child and enjoying our experience as parents can be as simple as calming ourselves.

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