I’ve said a lot of these words out loud, in front of my kids, mid-meltdown, in a voice that did not always feel like mine yet. That’s the part nobody tells you about modeling calm — you don’t feel calm first. You say the calm out loud, on purpose, before you feel it. And somewhere in the saying, you find your way back to steady. My mom is a psychoanalyst. She’s spent her career studying self-regulation. Not the kind you’re born with, the kind you build, out loud, in real time, in front of the people watching you do it. So on the days a tantrum has my kiddos and me (or Brit or both of us) on the floor, this is the language she gave me. Not for them, but for me. They’re not learning how to handle big feelings from what I tell them. They’re learning it from what they watch me do with mine. Which one are you saving for your next hard moment? ↓ #gentleparenting #consciousparenting #emotionalregulation #tantrum #parentingwithpurpose