One of the blessings of my baby’s sensitivity was that it started to open us up to understanding our family as sensitive as a whole. I started learning about both my and my partner’s limitations based on our sensitivities, which were often ignored during our childhood. There’s good and bad to realizing this about ourselves. On the one hand, it makes us extra sympathetic to our little guy’s struggle… and on the other, it makes us triggered a lot more often.
Read More“To the parents who grew up with childhood trauma… To the parents who grew up in homes with violence or shame or emotional neglect or wounding of any kind, please know that the sheer amount of effort it takes you daily to not get triggered by the screams of your children, or the punches they throw at you (or each other), or the lack of control you have over your environment, or the constant sensory or physical demands, does not go unnoticed…
Read MoreBut nothing could have prepared me for the terror of new parenthood. During these days, it seemed I could barely go ten minutes without an intrusive thought shouting at me: have you checked his breathing? Did his seatbelt loosen since we got in the car? What if I drop him? What if I fall down the stairs while I’m holding him? What if my partner falls down the stairs while holding him?
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