Processing Rage and Guilt as a Special Needs Parent — Things Unsaid
Sometimes a situation is more than what I can handle.
Overcoming Yelling
I didn’t have the easiest time growing up. My parents argued a lot when I was young and they got divorced when I was about eleven. In the last year of their marriage, they did almost nothing but yell and scream at each other.
Then my brother and I lived with our mom after the divorce. As I started to grow into a teenager, I replaced my father in the shouting matches with my mom. It was always something of no consequence. I eventually ran out of the house one night and went to live with my dad. I just couldn’t take the constant arguing even if I was responsible for a lot of the disagreements.
As I matured I learned how to diffuse conversations and learned more productive ways of communicating. I learned that arguments with my mom weren’t debating with a point, counterpoint, we were just yelling our thoughts and opinions at each other.
Once I understood that I was able to avoid yelling for about a decade before becoming a father. My oldest is a strong-willed child, she knows how to push my buttons and I’m constantly working on how to improve my communication style with her. But parenting her definitely re-introduced yelling into my life.
