(((Purple))),

Well, we cannot go back to ignoring our issues, we have to move forward. You are doing really well with that Purple, you really are. But you have some real challenges and you can't just focus on "you" because you do have a child to take care of and raise.

If you get to a point where you are stressing though, then you should make sure you have plenty of coloring books around so you can do a time out with her and both of you color. We all have anxiety, but what is important is finding activities that we can do that will help us actually lower the anxiety we experience. It is no long about hiding, it is now about finding methods we can utilize that will help us slow down and calm down, and to be honest, that is also very good for children to learn.

It has been proven that coloring "does" help us calm down so you should put that on your list of to do's with her. You can also use reading to her as another time out, that worked SO WELL for me when I was raising my daughter. I went to the library every week with her and picked out a lot of books so I had plenty to read to my daughter. That is something you can do with your bf, he can take you to the local library when he gets home for work. I cannot say enough how much that helped me.

I used to also go to the toy store and look for activites I could do with my daughter also and I also went to craft stores and looked there as well. What I did with my daughter is I planned out our days and I was an at home mom so I found that when I had our days planned out, it was a comfort for me as well. But what I did do is that I taught her how to keep busy and my daughter learned how to do activities, so she learned to plan and learn to learn well before school.

So for me, the mornings were about breakfast and she could watch some TV, which for her was disney movies. While she did that I would clean. Then we would have lunch and instead of me always making lunch, she learned how to make lunch too, even if that meant her making her own peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Then we would clean house together and I would let her sweep (pick up a child size broom) and my daughter would help me dust too. Then in the afternoons we would read and cuddle, and anytime I had any anxiety, I always had the coloring books and she would color with me and watch me and learn how to color in the lines more and more on her own.
And ofcourse we have music time and also some learn time as well with the flashcards and alphabet etc. Your daughter will be off to school everyday before you know it, so help her be prepared and spend time teaching her every day too. And there is nothing wrong with having a good excercise video that you and her could excercise to as well, kids love that.

It is not that we experience anxiety and issues in front of our children, it is how they watch us manage these issues that is helpful to both child and parent.

We are never going to be perfect Purple, you just have to always make sure your child knows you love, love, love her.

Open Eyes