Been struggling lately. My 7 year old spilled juice all over my work laptop and I completely lost it. Yelled at him, made him cry. Felt convicted immediately but the damage was done. How do you all manage to stay calm when stuff like this happens? I know I'm supposed to model Christ but man it's hard in the moment.
Honestly therapy or anger management helped me more than anything. Not saying there's something wrong with you but having tools specifically for managing anger response has been a game changer for my family.
He'll forget about it way faster than you think. Kids are resilient. What matters now is how you handle it going forward and that he knows you love him even when you mess up. That's actually a valuable lesson too.
This is such a real struggle. I've yelled plenty and felt terrible after. One thing that helped me was identifying my triggers beforehand so I'm not caught off guard. Like I know I'm more likely to lose it when I'm already stressed or tired.
I've found that when I feel that anger coming on, I literally have to walk away for like 30 seconds. Even just stepping into another room helps reset my brain. It's not about being perfect, it's about catching yourself before the yelling starts.
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Man I've been there. The juice incident is rough but the fact that you felt convicted immediately tells me you're not a bad dad. What matters is what you do next time something like that happens.
The laptop thing sucks but he's 7, he didn't understand the consequence. Kids that age spill stuff constantly. I'd recommend apologizing and explaining why you reacted that way, then maybe brainstorm together how to prevent it next time. Shows him that parents mess up too.