And while it may be simple, there's nothing easy about it.
Learning to pause, to take a moment before reacting, is the single most important skill we can practice, refine and pass on to our kids when it comes to self-regulation, self-awareness and impulse control (spoiler: the positive outcome on parenting will be a natural by-product).
It's not enough to tell our kids "take a breath" or "wow, wait"; we need to be modelling it ourselves, recognizing our own needs, and responding compassionately to them on a consistent basis.
Many of us were never taught how to do this well; we aren't fluent in it, but we can get there.
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