when it’s not “just age-appropriate behavior”

Let me tell you what the most damaging thing has been for me on this journey of navigating trauma with two little kids – the well-meaning friends and family who try to ease my concerns with the assurance, or questioning, that what I’m dealing with is age-appropriate behavior, [with the implication that I’m overreacting].

First, if you’re here because you’re worried something else is going on with your child – you’re likely right.

TRUST

YOUR

GUT

…because parents who DO NOT have something else going on with their child(ren) do not belabor over whether or not something else is going on. Go ahead and read that one more time, for you, for your validation.

My goal with parentingPTSD is to be helpful. Tidbits of information that are consumable and actionable. So here is this one.

Anything ‘can be’ age-appropriate behavior. It’s when that behavior is occurring at a frequency, duration, and intensity that it is inhibiting everyday life that it crosses the line from age-appropriate to maybe there IS something going on here.

Is that trauma? PTSD? ADHD? SPD? Anxiety? Being Autistic? I don’t know what it means for you and your child(ren) but I do know that behavior is communication – of something and if you’re struggling to figure out what is going on with your child you are headed down the right path. You’re probably going to have to fight like hell, and be doubted a lot, but persevere because you are right.