Time with your children is an investment not to be missed
My daughter is 10. She is bright, active and overall, a fairly happy kid. However, just a few short years ago, that wasn’t the case.
She faced multiple traumas by age 6 and had 8 ACEs (adverse childhood experiences). ACEs can cause a toxic stress response and often children do not know how to deal with the feelings that accompany them. By the time she was 7 years old, she wanted to kill herself. In fact, she tried multiple times to do things that could have resulted in serious injury. I tried a few interventions, but nothing worked. By the time she was 8 years old, she was put in a mental health center to get her stabilized.
The last two years have been a series of challenges. I learned a lot about stress responses, trauma informed care and parenting. I learned that everything I was raised with and knew from a parenting lens, wasn’t going to be beneficial for my kiddo. I had to unlearn a lot including how I spoke to her and what I expected. Every day I have had to make strides to ensure I’m always looking at the big picture and meeting her where she is at physically and mentally. I’m lucky that the last 14 months, I have had a really great team that has worked with her and with me (and even her brother) to get us to where we are now. Without a great supportive…
