Laura Linn Knight - Break Free from Reactive Parenting: Gentle-Parenting Tips, Self-Regulation Strategies, and Kid-Friendly Activities for Creating a Calm and Happy Home

Break Free from Reactive Parenting

Gentle-Parenting Tips, Self-Regulation Strategies, and Kid-Friendly Activities for Creating a Calm and Happy Home

Laura Linn Knight

At last, a parenting book with practical, pragmatic, and proactive strategies that we can actually use and that actually work! Thank you, Laura Linn Knight for creating this beautiful guide that allows us to be the parents we always wanted to be.

Christopher Willard, author of Growing Up Mindful and Alphabreaths

Dear frustrated parents, this book is really good medicine. It has wisdom and humor and honesty that will help, calming your heart and inspiring your best parenting.

Jack Kornfield, PhD, author of A Path with Heart

As a leader in the mental health industry, I am aware of how important mindfulness and self-regulation are for mental wellness. Break Free from Reactive Parenting offers all parents invaluable tools and practical information that is easy to implement and promotes well-being in the home. Laura Linn Knight teaches parents to stop parenting through emotions, which can often escalate a problem and cause more stress for both the child and the parent. Laura has a wealth of knowledge about parent/child relationships of all ages, and the information in this book is instrumental towards creating a more peaceful and loving environment in the home.

Laura DeCook, founder of LDC Wellbeing and mental health leader

Laura Linn Knights book offers all the practical mindfulness tools that stressed-out parents need right now. Practical, nonjudgmental, warm, and compassionate. Its an accessible guide for navigating this wild, beautiful thing we call parenting.

Sean Fargo, founder of Mindfulness Exercises

This book is a great resource for parents who want to break the unhealthy cycle of reactive parenting that can be so easy to fall into, especially during difficult seasons. Laura takes a whole-family approach in her teaching and offers up tools that are practical and evidence based.

Kaitlin Soule, LMFT, author of A Little Less of a Hot Mess

This book is a gem of a resource for any parent who would like to take a big step toward creating a calmer, happier home. So many of us parents find ourselves putting out fires, rather than creating the conditions for our children and us to strengthen our relationships and thrive. Break Free from Reactive Parenting offers practical ideas for parents and children to manage tricky emotions and grow the good.

Jamie Lynn Tatera, creator of the Self-Compassion for Children and Caregivers program and mindfulness trainer of caregivers, children, teens, and families

As a licensed therapist and mother of three, I cannot recommend Break Free from Reactive Parenting enough. The tools that Laura shares are essential for any parent and will change your daily parenting experience in a life-altering way! I love that the book is interactive and gives opportunities to reflect and practice. This is not your average parenting book and is a must-read!

Jessica Shank, LMFT

To my family, whose love is a gift beyond words. Thank you for all the laughter, kindness, and compassion you have brought into my life. And to my sweet grandmother, Judy, whose eyes sparkle each time we talk about writing. Thank you, Grandma, for your unwavering encouragement.

Is your household calm?

If youre a parent, the answer is probably a big fat NO. Maybe youre in the throes of chasing after a toddler. Maybe you have angelic children who never get upset and you think you have this parenting thing all figured out. (Ha!) Maybe you count down the hours until bedtime so you can have a glass of wine and cuddle up on the couch in front of Netflix. Maybe you are dealing with teenage drama and dream of your children turning eighteen, moving out, and allowing you to live your best life.

Chances are youve become reactive to your childrens behavior. In 2020 especially, we all heard reports of stress, anxiety, and reactive behavior from parents worldwide. Parents felt out of their depth, too wrapped up in juggling home and work life and making ends meet to understand how to deal with their childrens pain and fear, much less their own.

• Nearly 50 percent of parents reported significant stress increases due to the lockdown that have negatively impacted their mental and physical health.
• Researchers found that since March 2020, 27 percent of parents reported worsening mental health for themselves, and 14 percent reported worsening behavioral health for their children.
• In 2020, the proportion of childrens mental healthrelated emergency department (ED) visits among all pediatric ED visits for ages 5 to 11 and 12 to 17 years increased approximately 24 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
• 71 percent of parents believe the pandemic took a toll on their childs mental health, and 67 percent of parents wish theyd been more vigilant about their childs mental health from the beginning.
• Even before COVID-19, youth suicide was already at a record high. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 24 and has been increasing every year since 2007. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that suicide was the second leading cause of death among people ages 10 to 34.

The effects of what weve all been through these last few years are real and dire. Instead of just wading through and hoping things get better, its time for a different approach.

But in our time-crunched society, most of us just dont have the bandwidth to do what it takes, right? Were too busy, too tired, too distracted to figure out what our kids need. And so, we REACT. Despite our best intentions, we are living in a culture where reactive parenting has become the new norm.

We struggle with figuring out how to create a calm household when we live in an unpredictable world. We cant possibly understand how to share the same space with our tiny beloved terrors when we live in a constant state of distraction and reaction. We just arent sure how to make any of this work.

If your kids not listening, has seemed to turn into some unrecognizable alien, seems anxious, upset, unruly, or highly reactive, there is something you can do. There is hope!

Wherever you are in your parenting journey, there are always ways to improve, connect, and find calm in the chaos. Instead of repeating the same patterns, feeling overwhelmed or uncertain of what to do next, today is the day you give yourself permission to let go of the guilt and shame around feeling like a bad parent or labeling your child in the same way. You and your child are not bad, defective, or wrong. Raising kids is hard, and we all need some good, practical, and effective tools to help us navigate the way.

Reactive parenting comprises the negative behaviors displayed when a parent is frustrated with their child. This often looks like yelling, threatening, screaming, or even hitting. Reactive parenting can also look like over-rewarding or overbribing when the parent is fed up with their childs behavior.

In this book, we will start from a neutral place that addresses both the parent and child. Just like in marriage, issues rarely stem from just one party. This book is your toolbox, and the tools inside will help you cultivate a better and calmer home environment for everyone. The first section focuses on the difficulties parents face and tools to address those issues. The second section goes deeper into how to continuously access those tools and help create meaningful change within yourself and your home.