Be the Captain of your Ship

We are the captain of the ship that our children are on. They are the passengers and they rely on our steadiness to know that they are safe. The only way for us to be that steady beacon is to be able to steady ourselves. We need to be emotionally mature enough to know that whatever we are feeling comes from our own thoughts and not from our child’s behavior. Otherwise, they are the captain and they do not know how to steer the ship. We take control when we have control of ourselves. The captain of the ship stays calm and leads the passengers to safety no matter what waves of the sea they need to cross. There will be chaos swirling all around us and our quest of motherhood is to figure out how we can calm ourselves in the midst of the storm to be that sure foundation that our kids can securely attach to. We don’t have to control our children, we just have to control ourselves. And they will learn self regulation tools from our example and mirror our calm to help calm them.