3 Simple Ways to Be More Patient with Your Kids

Keeping our patience with our kids can be difficult. Here are ways to develop it more.

Discipline and patience are things that need to go hand-in-hand when raising our children. But sometimes, their actions just frustrate us so much that our anger bubbles and bursts like an overflowing cauldron. We then say hurtful things and sometimes, we find ourselves trying to repair the situation—because we know no parent would want to intentionally hurt their child. So to prevent those outbursts, here are simple ways you can build your patience with your kids.

1. Recognize when your frustration starts bubbling.

Some of us ignore the signs that our patience is wearing thin because we want to get things over with. While sure, it’s one less thing to worry about, it doesn’t always end well when someone interrupts our flow or our strategy to accomplish that one task. Frustration can take in the form of shaky hands, intense irritation when we’re unable to accomplish a small and simple task, and sometimes, migraines and headaches in the frontal lobe or forehead.

When that happens, slowly step away from the environment and change your view. It can even be something as quick as a 30-second dance party to redirect the frustrated energy into something more enjoyable.

2. Lessen the PROCESSED sugar.

Not all sugar is bad but processed ones are. We tend to grab chocolate or anything sweet to make us feel better—but that’s where the irritation also begins. Processed sugar burns fast, which lead us to the dreaded “crash”, where we get sleepy and irritable, and our patience shortens with anyone, including our kids. Focus on more natural sugars like fruits. Pineapples have natural sugar, high Vitamin C content, and boost the production of serotonin — or what many call the “Happy Hormone”.

After sticking to this diet for a while, you’ll notice that you’re less irritable and have less brain fog, too.

3. Always focus on repairing the issue when you do lose your patience with your kids.

Sometimes, it’s too late and our frustration just boils over onto our kids. But that doesn’t mean we leave the mess there. We need to focus on repairing the mess especially if it’s because we lost our patience with our kids. Although this doesn’t mean constantly saying “sorry”, it means letting your kids voice out how they didn’t like how you handled your loss of patience. While taking criticism can hurt, it helps us become better parents to our children and encourages our kids’ communication skills, too.

Developing patience with our kids isn’t easy.

Growing our patience especially after being surrounded by adults for so long can make it difficult for us to handle children. But our kids are not adults and are not yet capable of voicing their concerns in a business-like manner. They will make mistakes. They still haven’t gone to college yet! Plus, it’s good to keep in mind to remember that we too make mistakes and if we’re patient with ourselves, we can be patient with our kids.

More about parenting psychology:

10 Commandments for Every Kid and Teen Netizen
We Hate Unsolicited Parenting Advice! So Why Do It?
What’s the Difference Between Gentle Parenting and Permissive Parenting?