Ever walked away from a conversation thinking, “Why on earth did I say that?”

Are you plagued with “foot in mouth disease?”

Do you find yourself asking, "How do I stop reacting to my kids?" or "Is there a way to respond without reacting?"

Rather than allowing default tendencies and unconscious mindsets to dictate your life, you can respond to life's circumstances with more intention and less reaction.

Reacting vs. Responding

For starters, being fully present and conscious can make all the difference between reacting and responding.

As humans, we have the blessing – and the challenge – of memory and reason. We stereotype and make assumptions based on past experiences and emotions, often without even thinking. Stereotyping makes it easier for the brain; we make generalizations so that we don’t have to process everything that happens to us.

Sometimes, though, we take it to the extreme. For many of us, we tend to hold grudges or get stuck on initial interpretations. A friend of mine didn’t name her son Nicholas, even though it was her husband’s favorite name, because she was reminded of a former co-worker who had made her feel insane.

Emotional Responses

When you add emotions to the mix, it gets really complicated. Even if our rational brain understands what is “really” going on, underneath the surface lies an array of automated emotional responses that leap forward at inopportune moments.

These emotional responses can be described as “disowned selves.”

• It’s that five-year-old lurking inside you who is always worried about getting enough dessert because the older kids always got there first.
• It’s the rejected teen whose best friend “abandoned her” to hang out with the popular girls and is certain, secretly, that every close relationship will eventually leave.

3 Steps to Managing Reaction

Think about life as a car ride. Our primary personalities (e.g., responsible, attentive, orderly) are driving in the front seat, while our disowned selves are chauffeured around in the back seat. Every once in a while, unannounced, one of the back-seat personalities dramatically takes the wheel – either slamming on the breaks or hitting the accelerator – and there we are, in full-blown, unconscious reaction mode.

How can we avoid falling victim to old reactions and patterns?

1. The first step is awareness, noticing what is happening when we are reacting.
2. The second step is owning our responses. Accept that responses are a normal part of the human condition, and everyone experiences them. Some of us tend to beat ourselves up, wanting to get rid of our reactions, labeling them “bad” – as if somehow, magically, our past could disappear. (Wouldn’t that be nice!)
3. The third step is taking action. Shift to responsibility. Even though reactive responses are normal, they can get in the way. For parents, it’s important that we try to be aware enough to:
   1. prevent a full-blown reaction-based response with our kids (rarely a good thing)
   2. model conscious behavior.

In the long run, this will help us and our kids.

One trick that I’ve been playing with lately is breathing. (I’m working on it, but I am certainly a long way from mastery.) Before reacting to any situation, I take a breath and let it out slowly. This can give me time and space from my default, automatic responses. It allows me to respond as my conscious adult (from the front seat) rather than my frantic five-year-old (in the back seat).

Taking Ownership of Your Emotions

A key part of the responsibility of owning our responses is

1. noticing when our reactions have gotten the best of us
2. promptly admitting our wrong-doing
3. making amends

This is true, especially with our kids. How powerful (and often difficult) to admit our humanness and help the next generation learn to manage even more effectively.

Finding compassion for others in our lives while going through this reactive cycle is another piece of the puzzle. It’s much more likely that your husband’s inner five-year-old is arguing with you, not his conscious adult. Think about understanding and accepting all parts of each other. Decide that you are willing to be the grown-up in a situation, and call a time out until the real you (or him) can come back to the table.

When you become aware of your tendencies and start responding more consciously, you can stop reacting to your kids. You'll begin to notice a world of changes in all aspects of your relationships and your family dynamic.