vol. 1 Part II Oercoming the stress

It became extremely clear to me that, though my job was stressful, being
stressed out was no way to handle it. It took a lot of deep breaths, self
motivation and practice to maintain my composer. MY approach, however, was very simple. I imagined that I was the child and what it must be like. Easy right?
Your probably thinking, "why didn't I think of that?". Most of us get so caught
up in our daily life that we never stop to appreciate the reality of being a
child. We get up early to work a long, hard day at the office so that we can pay
the bills that come with feeding, bathing and clothing little Susie and Johnny.
The last thing we would ever want is to hear them screaming when we walk in the door or have them climbing on us during our down time saying, "read me a book".

The truth of the matter is they are children. They have only just now begun to
comprehend the world around them.It is better to let them touch everything and to make a mess rather than to sit in one spot constantly screaming because you told them no.

Shortly after my niece was born I went home to Michigan to visit. She was old
enough to crawl and drool and thats about it. My sister was so uptight and
nervous around her I couldn't help but tell her to sit back and to let me worry
about it for a little while. I let my niece play with everything in the room,
including the four foot plant. She was happy as a clam exploring her new world
and I was just as happy as I calmly sat with her and watched her go. My sister
could not believe how relaxed I was.

When you sit back and understand that kids will be kids, it allows you to grant
them freedom to interact with the things around them, which in turn, helps their development.

Now I know what your thinking: "what about the rules and the structure that is
implemented so that they respond to authority and behave properly". While these are very essential things it is important to allow enough room to grow. Room with proper restrictions is completely reasonable and I promise if you try it you will be the one who is more relaxed and soon enough have more time to smile and enjoy being with your child instead of running around tense and worried all of the time.

Try it!