I can relate! I was verbally and physically abused as a child. I’m 34 and I have a 4 year old son, I started therapy less than a year ago to try to make sense of my past. Prior to this point, my way of dealing with the past was just to shut down and never talk about it. Because of never addressing my past, when I became a parent I never consciously set out to parent differently, but I definitely do things differently than how I was raised. I don’t have issues with anxiety, so I can’t say it made me especially overprotective. However, I think choosing gentle parenting was an unconscious directive from my past. I refuse to raise my voice and while I am so not a perfect parent, I try to always take a gentle and positive parenting approach.

My T has a 3 year old son, which was a delightful considence when we met. He points out many times how I’m breaking the cycle with my son, how I’m giving him the opportunity to have supportive parents.