We want to give our kids EVERYTHING, until we give them... EVERYTHING.
Yes, our kids can mirror our proudest and our most challenging aspects of who we are at our core.
They can replicate patterns we've noticed in ourselves; patterns we've worked hard to solidify, or patterns we've worked hard to break.
Our kids can adopt our coping mechanisms, they can adopt our mannerism, they can adopt our energy, communication style, and attitude.
Yes, we can become overwhelmed by that which we cannot change [i.e. the mini me whose pushing ALL the right buttons], but also--we can become empowered in approaching each day with the kind of authentic compassion and empathy that comes from being "their person". Sometimes "the one person" who really gets it.
In so many ways (some of which may be triggering) we truly identify with their struggles; maybe their struggles were our struggles, maybe their struggles were our triumphs.
Yes, sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree--but also, the tree has immeasurable power to hold space for the apple because--once upon a time, the tree was the apple.