EPISODE 38

Anxiety Series: How to Gentle Parent Your Anxiety

Today we’re hopping back into our anxiety series with one of the hottest topics in motherhood – gentle parenting. But rather than speaking on it in regards to parenting your kids, we’re talking all about how to provide gentle parenting to your anxiety. 

For those who aren’t sure what this term even means, gentle parenting is a style of parenting that is meant to be – you guessed it – more gentle. It encourages parents to approach their kids kindly and calmly, with a heavy reliance on empathy and understanding of their emotions rather than punishment. Now as a disclaimer, I don’t subscribe to only one style of parenting and I love to empower women to use their innate mama intuition, heal their own traumas, and utilize the parenting style that works best for them. But for the sake of this conversation and applying the amazing benefits of gentle parenting to our own anxiety, let’s dive on in. 

In our previous conversation in this series we talked about the importance of befriending your anxiety rather than shaming it. We talked about how anxiety works hard to keep us safe, and how important it is to take time to thank her for what she does instead of being mean to her.


In thinking about how we can take it a step further and apply the big take-aways from gentle parenting concepts, here’s where we can start: 

  • Give space. Gentle parenting highlights giving space to your child’s emotions, and we want to start applying that same concept to our anxiety. We want to acknowledge that we’re feeling anxiety, get curious about it, and give ourselves space to understand it without shaming it.

  • Show respect and empathy. Gentle parenting encourages us to show respect and empathy toward our kids’ experiences, and we need to give the same grace to our anxiety. Respect the fact that it’s doing its job in a crazy time and empathize with how hard she is working for you. 

  • Validate the experience. In gentle parenting we look at validating our kids’ experiences and emotions and understanding why they are upset, and the same can again be applied to our anxiety. Validate why the anxiety is coming up for you and ask it what it may be needing. 

As moms we are always eager to learn tools and tricks to help our kids regulate their systems and feel loved, but where is that same level of energy and focus toward ourselves?

Our anxiety can become defused when we apply the same love and respect to it that we would our kids. Put the gentle parenting of your anxiety in your tool kit because you are worth it, too. 

Anxiety Survival Kit

To check out our kit of 8 research and neuroscience-based tools to help manage anxiety, click HERE!

Take care of yourselves and therefore each other!

xo, brooke jean

  • • Brooke recounts how she and her husband are sharing the load this fall break

    • Always communicate and don’t be afraid to ask for help from your partner

    • Normalizing changes in women’s bodies and removing the shame around it

    • Looking for a supportive community as you navigate this beautiful and messy world? Come and join the Mommy’s Mental Health Matters Facebook Group!

  • • Nowadays, we’re all heightened and concerned about the state of the world around us so feeling anxious is normal

    • Brooke highlights the importance of the therapeutic alliance between her and her clients and how they both go through transformations and heal together

    • Remember that we're not defined by our anxiety; it is just a part of who we are

    • Recognize the purpose anxiety has served in keeping us safe

  • • In order to gentle parent our children, we first have to take better care of ourselves

    • It’s about giving space to our anxiety, the same way we would give space to our child’s emotions

    • Have respect and empathy for the role of anxiety in our lives; it’s part of the human condition

    • Validate our anxiety and remain regulated in our nervous system instead of ignoring it or escalating it

    • Don’t let anxiety take over, let your CEO self take charge

    • It’s okay to be vulnerable and not be grounded all the time; the key is to keep trying

  • It starts with looking at our anxiety from a distance, taking time to breathe, and working on integrating that part of ourselves on our terms

CONTINUING THE CONVERSATION

I hope that you’ll join me in this movement, and that you can authentically reconnect with who you really are. That’s where your essence and your gems really lie.

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@brookejeanunperfected to see how ridiculous I am IRL.

Join my private Facebook group Mommy’s Mental Health Matters and let’s continue the conversation, uplift one another, and build the life that we have always dreamed of. I would love to have you!

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Thanks so much for listening!