Raising a child can be particularly difficult when you feel overwhelmed. Becky Kennedy knows that from experience.
Kennedy, a Columbia University-trained child psychologist and host of the parenting podcast Good Inside, is a mother of three children. Every time she feels stressed, she reminds herself to focus on two parenting goals. She quickly “repaired” her disputes with her child and gave her a small mental break every day, she said at the Fast Company Innovation Festival 2025 on Thursday.
Kennedy is to apologize to the child after losing her initial goal, repairs, or temper. If you yell at your child after doing something wrong, if the tension cools down, it’s not okay to scream and if you reminded you that you’re working on improving yourself, you advised them to follow up.
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Kennedy said it is understandable that parents sometimes lose their temper with their children, in a December 2024 podcast episode of The Tim Ferriss Show. An unaddressed explosion is an interaction that can have a detrimental, long-term impact on your relationship with your child, she said.
Repairing does not mean that you are saying, “It’s difficult to put on shoes when you’re running late, so I cried out to you.” Instead, successful parents “acknowledge what they did, take accountability, communicate and reconnect with your child,” Kennedy said Thursday. Setting that example will help teach your child how to “repair everyone in life and nature.”
As for Kennedy’s second goal, I recommend scheduling a minimum of 10 minutes on the calendar every day to breathe deeply and do small things that will help you feel organized. You can also spend that time thinking about parenting tactics, whether you read books online or listen to podcasts, she said.
“Simply sitting and breathing” to “simply sitting and breathing” writes for CNBC on July 23rd that neuroscientist Joseph Jebelli “relieves the brain.”
Stressed people tend to be more reactive than aggressive, and giving them a little break from busy days will make you more prepared and less overwhelmed. It helps your child to be upset and shave from a potential power struggle for a few minutes and be less likely to live in worrying about you being able to do better, she added.
“The parents we want to be… are parents who are learning, parents who are investing, parents who know you’re going to be completely incomplete,” Kennedy said.
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