Remember the eyes are the window to the soul and they mirror our feelings and emotions.  Chances are if its in your eyes it’s also in their view. Negativity breeds negativity so if what you are doing is not working try to turn it around.  See them with a different set of eyes.

No child wants to fail.  No child wants to struggle in school, at home, with friends and in life.  They just don’t , as Dr Ross Greene says “If they could they would”.  I think many times these negative behaviors are a defense mechanism to keep the world from seeing how much they are struggling.  The behaviors are a bravado to hide their pain. 

Dealing with a raging, defiant, cursing, threatening, hostile, nasty, dark, violent, incorrigible child is horrible.  It is absolutely exhausting and one of the hardest things parents of children with mental illness or poor regulation will ever have to deal with.  It is so explosive in nature.  It can be so random and unexpected and yet predictable and unavoidable.  It takes every ounce of restraint not to lose it at times.  As absolutely draining and painful as it is to deal with these kids – imagine being that kid.

Imagine being that out of control.  Imagine being afraid of your own actions.  Imagine being disoriented and confused either during a rage or afterwards.  Imagine feeling like a failure everywhere you go.  Imagine having no friends.  Imagine hurting people you love and having no way of stopping it.  Imagine being in that much pain.

As horrible as it is for the parent, imagine how terrifying it is for the out of control child or teen.

I know, you are reading this and saying ,well he/she doesn’t look terrified or afraid.  To that I say look a little deeper.  Start from scratch and reassess the situation.  What the hell – what you are doing now isn’t working or you wouldn’t be reading this so what do you have to lose? 

Without going into a long drawn out explanation let’s just start with the understanding that there is a physical as well as emotional change that occurs during these rages or behaviors, flight or fight as most people call it.  The adrenalin is pumping that cortisol is rising and you have a chemically hormonally imbalanced mess on your hands.  Everything is distorted and amplified its like a Mack truck is coming right at them. Everything around them seems like danger and a threat. Ill show my age here by saying it reminds me of Lost in Space the television show “danger danger” for Will Robinson.  I digress. The key is to head off that chemical pituitary adrenal response before it hits because once its started – watch out!

Take a look at your expectations, are you setting the bar too high?  Is the child impaired and struggling to the point that for a while, whether short term or a bit longer perhaps expectations should be dropped completely?  Often when kids are this out of control and in a chronic state of chaos they need to calm and regulate.  It’s not the time for demands but the time for fostering a calming state to regulate the physical and emotional kid.

Go back to the beginning, put on your detectives cap and start looking for causes of the childs frustration.  Mental illness is an umbrella for the reason many of these kids are so severely impaired but underlying are the triggers and causes that exacerbate the behaviors.  Many of these kids have overlapping issues or disorders so leave no stone unturned.  Look into any sensory issues – look into learning disabilities – look into organic basis such as endocrine or other health causes – look into hearing problems – vision problems – neurological problems – the list goes on and on.  Medications can cause slight to severe side effects check if a new med be involved? Is it Anxiety based? Anxiety and social phobia are horrible and very real in children.  Anxiety in children and teens is under recognized, unaddressed and often not validated but merely chalked up to teen “drama”. This just creates even more anxiety and embarrassment.  It is a daunting task to unravel but when you find that needle in the haystack it is well worth it.

Consider social deficits as not all kids acquire social skills naturally.  Is your child being bullied or singled out by another child or a teacher?  Is your child misunderstood and labeled a bad kid, the weird kid, the loner?  Is your kid always getting detention, punishments or having things taken away.  Maybe, just maybe, your child is being beaten down by the world they live in.Unintentionally but inadvertently their world is spinning out of control and their self image and self esteem is shot.

Pushing these kids down further into the abyss does not work.  Negatives do not work.  Punishments and limit settings do not work.

Raise these kids back up.  Finding what they are good at and focusing on that, giving them a sense of pride and accomplishment, having their back and advocating for the positives in these kids is the way to start. To be clear, I’m not talking about enabling bad behavior here that is another blog all together.  Im talking about acknowledging the negatives, addressing the negatives but focusing on the positives.

Looking at it, no matter what age, like teaching skills to a baby.  You teach them one at a time, in this case usually in order of importance.  Break the behaviors or issues down specifically sometimes even broken down into several segments for the same issue. You do not need to telegraph that you are working on these issues with a defiant child, do it in a subtle way and let them feel the empowerment of succeeding. Instead of pointing out when they get it wrong point out when they get it right. You cannot fix all issues at one time, take behaviors one at a time until mastered or significant improvement is made then move on to the next.

Be a role model – a human role model with human flaws.  When you make a mistake or hurt someone apologize.  When you are stressed out and frustrated say so and let your kids see how you manage stress in an appropriate way.  When frustrations and disappointments happen in your life, if appropriate, let them see that life has its ups and downs and how to pick up and move on. Be an obstacle mover in your life and in theirs.

As I started this blog….. It begins with the mindset.  It also ends with the mindset.

Next time your child or teen is raging and out of control, the next time they are cursing and having a melt down…. step back….. take a breath….. do not react.   Walk away if you have to but make your mindset compassion.  Realize that this is the WORST possible time to communicate your expectations or to have any kind of meeting of the minds. This is the WORST possible time to lay down your parental authority. This is the time to model behavior by staying calm and speaking calmly.  It is not the time to argue your point whether you are right or wrong. It is not a time of rational thinking.  It is the time to let this struggling kid know you “get them”.  It is the time to say “I’m sorry you are having such a hard time”  ”I see you are really struggling – Im sorry you are hurting”  ”Maybe we can find a way to work together to solve this”  ”I love you”  I know….. It is hard, very hard.  When you have a spitting mad verbally or physically abusive kid in your face it is the last thing you want to say but you need to break the pattern and build trust.

If you over react they will come right back at you.  If you are calm and reasonable sooner or later – yeah I know sooner or later is usually not soon enough – they will begin to see that they can trust you to be calm, collaborative and ACCEPT them.

The less you talk the more you will have to listen and when listening with compassionate and new ears you just may hear where all this anger and pain is coming from.  By listening and asking them what they are feeling and not TELLING them or assuming what they are feeling, you are giving them the best gift a parent can give by teaching them the skill to communicate and work together to compromise and problem solve. You are teaching them how to communicate their feelings and frustrations in an appropriate and productive way.

I think ultimately, and equally important is to give our kids the tools to self calm and regulate.  This is a really frustrating world and when combined with a disorder or situational circumstance they need to learn to calm and reason.  In order to learn those skills they need to know how “THEY” calm.  Teaching them breathing and muscle relaxation when they are in a calm state is great but I really feel that everyone finds their own way to calm.  Get your child to a place in themselves to identify how they calm, be it with music, video games, running, climbing, pacing, reading help your child or teen find their calm.  Yes I said video games, I don’t really care what it is as long as it is safe and not harmful to anyone else.  They need to find their own way. It is not so much the action that is important but the way they will learn the feeling of calming and the benefit of self relief of the escape from the anxiety.   It is not only needed now when you are ready to jump out a window but it is what they will need to live a productive and happy life long after these adolescent years are gone.

Sometimes giving control and teaching control puts you in the drivers seat.