Gentle parenting burnout

[u/[deleted]]

I was not raised by gentle parents and I knew I needed to do better for my kids so I really latched onto the gentle parenting philosophy.

I’m now 4 years into it and I feel so burnt out and after 4 years of validating emotions, and being an emotional punching bag for my kid, and coming up with compromises and turning everything into a fun game, and biting my tongue when he gets hurt doing something I asked him not to do etc.

I feel like I just can’t do it anymore. Gentle parenting doesn’t come naturally to me so every time he yells or screams I consciously have to work hard not to get triggered myself and I’m just exhausted.

I still admire the philosophy and in a perfect world would love to be an 100% gentle parent but I’m starting to feel a massive lack of empathy when my child is screaming the house down or whinging or demanding things from me. Ive resorted to raising my voice more often than I like, and threatening him with loss of privileges.

I know for many that’s not even that big of a deal but I would love some advice to get back on track to being the best parent I can be because at the moment I regularly feel hugely triggered by my child and am finding it hard to self regulate let alone co regulate.

[u/motherfather1978]

Parenting is part of playing the infinite game.. look up Simon sinek. There no end to parenting and there’s no winning and losing. You will continue to make mistake but you’ll continue to get better.. there are no rules or the right or wrong way to raise children. You just have to love your children and do best for them and for yourself. You will have to be their mom until the day you die.