As some of you know, this has been a very challenging year for our family. It was especially hard on my now 4 year old who welcomed a new sibling and dealt with an unfortunate situation with a caretaker we had. That being said, all of this happened while just being 3 which is a tough age all on its own! During the challenging behavior, I was about ready to give up. I had lost my way in the parenting department. I was getting angry, yelling for the first time in 3 years and he was having daily meltdowns and tantrums that would sometimes last over an hour. I knew it couldn’t feel good for him and it definitely wasn’t feeling good to me. By the grace of God, I was introduced to Hayley Goldberg, a marriage and family therapist and Parent Educator through the Irvine Unified School District. My first session with Hayley I walked in feeling hopeless. My confidence as a mom had taken a nose dive. I didn’t think it would ever get better and I felt like I was ruining my child’s spirit and modeling terrible behavior. After just one session, I walked out with a notebook full of notes of things to try when I got home. It was amazing how much of a difference it made right from the beginning. After a couple more sessions with her, we were in a much better place.
It is still a work in progress but we are back to having only 1-2 meltdowns per week instead of per day and I actually feel like I am enjoying being a mom again. Parenting is the hardest job in the world. It’s exhausting and thankless. Our kids don’t come with a handbook for every phase of their lives and they are such complex little beings. What Hayley helped with the most is understanding my son’s behavior and where it was coming from. It made perfect sense. I learned that much like our newborns, our toddler’s behavior is our road map for what we need to do as parents to help them.
I begged Hayley to help develop a class series for parents in Orange County so that as a community we can improve how we interact with our kids, strengthen our bond so we have long-lasting meaningful relationships with them and BEST of all…minimize those tantrums that make you just want to pull your hair out and punch a wall!!!!
No matter what stage of parenting you are in – this class series will change your life. I can guarantee you that.