Kids Need a Safe Place to Express their Feelings. Be That Space for Them.

Sometimes my kids will come home from school (or anywhere where they’ve been without me) and immediately start to act like total jerks. They’ll throw their stuff on the floor in one messy heap and collapse on the couch whining for snacks, water, and just…whining. For what feels like an eternity.

It can get on my very last nerve, especially when they are both acting this way at the same time. It feels like their foul moods will drive their dad and me to the brink. But eventually, after blowing off steam, getting a snack, and maybe telling me about something that ticked them off during the day, they’ll settle down and reassume their normal, mostly happy-go-lucky personalities.

No, they aren't bratty, awful kids. And it's not just because they are tired. Nothing particularly devastating has to happen that day to set them off. It's just that they are home -- they are with me -- and this is their safe space to be themselves, let out their feelings, and feel heard.

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