It can be seductive to engage with a child when we seek to rationalise, justify, explain or coerce even when we know we are unlikely to succeed! When a child attempts to push boundaries they are asking for us to be in our calm, loving authority as the mature centred ‘adult’ - our power lies not in control but in our response-ability to our children.
However, the more ‘messy’ childrens' emotions become the more challenging it may be to stay in that calm, compassionate place – here are some ideas to support you through those moments;
- Power struggles take 2 people!
- Model ‘asking’ rather than ‘telling’
- Don’t try to explain or rationalize in the heat of the moment
- Look for the unmet need, physical or emotional
- Stay calm, recognize triggers
- If you don’t stay calm, acknowledge what happened afterwards
- Stay connected, be playful, laugh!
- Give choices when appropriate
Power struggles can’t happen if one person doesn’t engage – often the parent can hold a safe, calm space and let the child express themselves so the parent can think what the motivating factors are.
Nobody wins a power struggles – nobody feels better for it.
Power struggles are about feelings of powerlessness.
Children have little power over their day, sometimes the balance needs to be redressed.
Many power struggles can be avoided by giving children ‘special one-to-one time’ when they feel strongly connected and can download things they feel unsettled about rather than through behaviours which are difficult for the parent to experience. Play is how children communicate so games which give children power can be fun!
Gate keeper: allow your child to control who comes through a gate or door. When your child passes through, pause on the threshold and pretend you are desperate to come in, beg, plead, exaggerate and let them have the power over you. At first they might comply with your first plea but quickly they will seize the opportunity to be gatekeeper – you can invent passwords and reasons you need to enter!
Side-stepping Power Struggles
Many power struggles result from a parent seeking cooperation from the child. Here are some suggestions for fostering willing cooperation:
- If the child says ‘no’, ask again in 1 minute – magically, the answer if often ‘yes’ (they just need their ‘no’ to be heard.
- Are you modeling ‘asking’ rather than ‘telling’? Children are very assertive about needs, it can help to model making requests and it also imposes less authority over the child. ‘Put your shoes on now’ sounds very different to ‘would you be willing to put your shoes on now please?’
- Be playful and connect – children are always more likely to work with you when connected. Physical touch such as nose rubbing or finger walking appeals to how children live through their body. Goof around!
- Give choices – by owning the choice the child may feel empowered.
- Invite a solution from your problem-solver child, ‘we have a tricky situation because you have mud on your legs but don’t want a bath, how can we get those legs clean before we put those pyjamas on? Maybe we could find some great ideas?’
- Competition – children love speed! ‘How fast can we race upstairs?’
The Child’s Fits of Temper
Children are prone to tantrums at all ages when they are tired, hungry, fearful, over-stimulated, unable to communicate or resistant to change. It is tempting to wish to set the child straight when they are highly emotional, to try to rationalize. Children can sense parental panic and are poorly equipped to absorb adult logic when upset.
How to Meet a tantrum?
- A parent cannot ‘handle’ a tantrum they can only respect it, the emotions are a reflection of what your child needs to learn to handle.
- When it’s obvious you cannot calm the child, focus intently on maintaining calm within yourself.
- Remember where your child is at developmentally and that well-attached children will have a healthy desire to individuate. Even very verbal children may not have the verbal skills to perfectly match their emotional states.
- Don’t get carried away trying to distract from strong feelings – these feelings will be real and necessary to let out, even if it looks or sounds messy.
- Listen, validate and empathise – sometimes staying quietly present provides a really safe place for a child’s vulnerability.
The Parent’s Fits of Temper
It is extremely hard to remain calm at all times with emotional children. If you feel anger, this is a secondary emotion – something else is triggering the anger – what resources are you lacking? Are you tired, hungry, anxious, in need of quiet time, frustrated by something unrelated to your child?
By recognizing your own feelings you have a better chance of practicing some self-empathy. If the anger rises in you, take a breath or count to 10 and step away for a moment if you need to.
What happens when the power struggle explodes and the parent loses it?
- Don’t blame. ‘I feel angry when you draw on the carpet’ is different to ‘you make me so angry’
- Don’t use power language; ‘you always do this’, ‘why can’t you just think’ only fuels the flames of blaming, unhelpful, struggle-filled discourse.
- Acknowledge your mistake – it’s such a powerful model for your children and they learn from hearing how you were feeling in that moment.
- Explain how you feel afterwards – sorry or embarrassed or sad, and suggest how you could have handled it differently.
- Discuss ideas together for preventing the same situation in the future and be reassured that anger can be healthy and safe if recognized and treated respectfully.
Learn more
Attachment Parenting UK’s accredited
Positive Discipline course, suitable for parents, carers and anyone working with children, includes modules on power struggles and a wide range of positive discipline topics in 10 flexible interactive modules.
Resources
Books
Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen
Raising Children, Raising Ourselves by Naomi Aldort
Playful Parenting by Lawrence Cohen
How to Talk so Kids will Listen and How to Listen so Kids will Talk by Faber and Mazlish
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
Parenting Without Power Struggles by Susan Stiffelman
Links
Great resource covering all aspects of childhood in easy to access age-specific pages addressing highly relevant topics.
http://www.ahaparenting.com/_blog/Parenting_Blog/post/How_to_Sidestep_a_Power_Struggle/
Excellent approach to compassionate communication for use within all family relationships:
http://www.nonviolentcommunication.com/aboutnvc/parenting.htm
Pam Leo of Connection Parenting suggests ‘rewinding’ – going back and starting afresh when you say something unhelpful.
http://connectionparenting.com/parenting_articles/index.html#index
