Behavior vs. Stress Response

Some of my favorite thinkers on the matters of understanding behavior, raising neurodivergent kids, and doing both with compassion (and self-compassion!), are Debbie Reber and Mona Delahooke. So you can imagine my excitement when Debbie Reber interviewed Mona Delahooke on this episode of her podcast! I just had to share it.

The episode is full of some important ideas to consider about our children...and I encourage you to apply them to yourself as well.

Some include:

• It's important to discern between a chosen behavior and a stress response

• Just because you (or your kid) can behave in an "appropriate" way one moment, it doesn't mean you (they) can always do this. (i.e. one night, when I was well-rested and well-fed, I put my anxious kid to bed, patiently standing by through her lengthy routine. The next night, when I was hungry and exhausted, the routine felt unbearable and unending, so I ran outside and kicked over all of our patio chairs while sobbing.)

• Knowing the three "pathways" of the nervous system and how to determine which pathway your child is on

If you listened, what did you think? And if you did or didn't...please share your automatic, not-consciously-chosen, stress response...did you too kick over all of your patio chairs once? (Please say yes!).