With the stress of the holidays, while schedules are different and we feel pulled in so many different directions, we are often triggered by a child’s behavior. We assign meaning to it from our social programming and childhood experiences. If we aren’t able to pause and regulate, we can get in a cycle of reacting to the behavior. The thing about behavior is that it is always communication of a need. A need to feel safe, seen, move their body, eat food, etc. We can react to behaviors forever, or own our role in regulation in order to respond to the need with intention. This is no walk in the park, but isn’t that what we are asking kids to do? To regulate their reactions in order to respond with intention. To be calm enough to communicate with words instead of actions? How can we ask this of kids if we can’t do this ourselves? What challenging behavior is coming up in your house these days?