How Parenting Guilt Can Help Us Grow Emotional Resilience

Why can’t we admit that we have room to grow as parents, without being flooded with shut-down level feelings?

The other day I got an email from the one and only Debbie Reber of TILT Parenting. The subject was:

“Is there a place for guilt in parenting?”

Photo by Derek Thomson on Unsplash

If you’ve been here for a while, you know I love this topic, and it aligns with Jamie Lynn Tatera’s podcast episode on Self-Compassion, which I believe is the antidote to so many parenting hurdles - such as guilt and shame.

“Guilt is helpful here if it leads me to the doorway of curiosity.”
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Jamie Lynn Tatera

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• Guilt is a sign we’re out of alignment with our values.

• Shame is feeling, “I am beyond hope.”

To work on my parenting skills, I need to first acknowledge my challenges as a parent, then believe I have a choice and the capacity to do better.

Shame takes that belief in ourselves away. I know there’s no place for that in parenting (despite what Merve Emre says).

But, I don’t know if guilt should be excised entirely from parenting.

Here’s t…