10 Things You Can Do When Your Kids Frustrate You

This week was just one of those weeks where it seemed like everything my girls did frustrated me.  You ever have one of those days?  LOL.  I’m sure nearly all of you who have kids experience frustration at one time or another.  So, what can you do during those frustrating times to defuse the situation and restore joy in both you and your kids?  Speaking from experience, here are 10 creative ideas that you might want to  try the next time you are feeling frustrated with your kids.

10 Things You Can Do When Your Kids Frustrate You

1. Announce that everyone needs to “take 10” or “go to their corners.”  The literal translation?  Have everyone go to their rooms for 10 minutes to listen to some music and chill.
2. Have everyone go back to bed and start the day over again.  I first heard this tip from Elizabeth on Yes They Are All Ours, but seriously, sometimes just taking the opportunity to start over makes all the difference…not to mention the fact that it often instills a few extra laughs along the way.
3. Take a walk, bike ride, or scooter ride around the block.  Get out.  Get some fresh air.  Change the scenery.  Maybe you all have cabin fever, and you didn’t even realize it.
4. Talk it out.  On occasion, when I’m most frustrated with my eldest, I’ve sent her to her room just so we can have a one-on-one talk-it-out session.  What have I learned?  Sometimes your child may not really be trying to be disobedient on purpose; sometimes they just don’t understand what you are wanting.
5. Clean something.  Take your frustration out on your kitchen sink, the bathtub, or the floors instead of your child.  Your floors will never look cleaner and your heart will be cleaner too.
6. Have a hugging or hand squeezing contest.  My daughters and I have this little game we play that requires no words–the hand squeezing game.  Every squeeze means “I love you.”  We try to “tag” the other person’s hand with a  squeeze before our own hand is squeezed.  This is the perfect game for those times your child doesn’t want to hold your hand and you really need them too (i.e. the parking lot, the store, or the sidewalk).
7. Play a game that let’s your kid’s feel loved but also gives you a little peace and quite.  My favorite choice?  Hide-and-seek.  I love finding new hiding places that keep the girls searching for me for several minutes.  By the end, my peace is restored and we are all laughing from the search.
8. Tell them why you are frustrated, and what you plan to do to calm yourself.  Kids need to learning coping techniques just like they need to learning reading, writing, and arithmetic.  “What is an appropriate way to calm yourself when you are frustrated?  Aw, here is how mom does it.  Maybe this is ok.”
9. Do a Bible search.  See who can find a Bible verse the quickest having to do with the current frustrating situation.  Make it a race.  The race alone usually lightens the stress level, and scripture always helps.
10. Escape to your prayer closet…literally.  My mentor recommended this one to me, and it’s already transformed my reaction on more than one occasion.  Go to your closet, literally, close the door, and get on your knees in prayer.  If your kids find you, so what?  They need to know that even you need a little help with your temper from time to time, and that God’s the best source for peace.