03/08/2026
You can’t just force your child to respect you. They learn what respect looks and sounds like from you. If you give them respect, then they may reciprocate, but respect should not be conditional, same as love.
Respect that is forced is usually based on fear.
Do you find yourself getting caught up on this idea? Do you find your desire for respectful behaviour and communication gets in the way of connecting with your child, at times?
Our perception of respect can often be a barrier to connection. Once you stop feeling offended by your child’s behaviour, it’s easier to help them learn new strategies for communicating.
Sometimes it’s more that our child’s behaviour makes us feel triggered in some way and we need to process that trigger, in order to respond, instead of react.
In my book Finding Your Calm: A Responsive Parent’s Guide to Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation, I discuss how our perception of respect can often be a barrier to connection. Once you stop feeling offended by your child’s behaviour, it’s easier to help them learn new strategies for communicating.
This book combines my knowledge of child development, brain science and trauma to offer parents a unique resource that includes lots of exercises, reflections, and insights. This book is written with the intention of supporting parents in developing the skills they need to co-regulate with their child and meet their emotional needs. It is based on my own healing journey, through parenting and so it is written with compassion for parents and children. We were all children once and that little person still lives inside us, trying to be seen and heard. Parenting often makes that connection to our little selves, hard to ignore.
Learn more about connection, co-regulation and deepening the parent-child bond in my book 👇
Finding Your Calm: A Responsive Parent’s Guide to Self-Regulation and Co-Regulation
Link below
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