Parenting is full of challenges — but sometimes, the biggest ones come in the smallest packages.
For months, my sweet, once-easygoing daughter had turned into a whirlwind of complaints, tantrums, and constant whining. Everything became a battle: getting dressed, eating meals, even brushing her teeth.
I was exhausted.
No matter how much patience I tried to show, no matter how many parenting books I read or gentle discipline techniques I tried, nothing seemed to help.
One day, after an especially rough morning where she cried over socks not matching and screamed because her juice cup wasn’t “just right,” I finally snapped.
“Why are you acting like this?!” I asked, frustrated beyond belief.
She looked up at me with big, watery eyes and whispered, “I don’t know. I just feel weird inside.”
That hit me harder than any tantrum ever could.
So I scheduled an appointment with a child therapist.
We went in expecting to hear that she was just being dramatic, or testing limits — but what we learned changed everything.
The therapist gently explained that children often express emotional distress through behavior — and that my daughter might be struggling with anxiety.
At first, I was shocked. She was only five. How could she possibly have anxiety?
But as the therapist walked me through the signs — constant irritability, difficulty sleeping, extreme sensitivity to change, and persistent worry — it all started to make sense.
It wasn’t that she was trying to be difficult.
It wasn’t that she was spoiled or defiant.
She was simply trying to cope with feelings she didn’t yet know how to name.
We started working with the therapist on tools to help her manage her emotions — things like deep breathing exercises, feeling charts, and structured moments to talk about worries before bedtime.
And slowly… things began to change.
She started using her words instead of melting down. She learned to ask for space when she felt overwhelmed. And most importantly, she learned that it was okay to feel things deeply — and that she wasn’t alone in dealing with those feelings.
Now, almost a year later, she’s still learning — but so am I.
Because here’s the truth:
Kids aren’t born knowing how to regulate their emotions.
They learn by watching us.
And sometimes, the best thing we can do for them is stop seeing their behavior as bad — and start seeing it as a cry for help.