Releasing own frustration in a safe space

• We make ourselves a piping hot cup of coffee thinking we may get to enjoy it this time and the baby wakes up hungry. We then spend the next few minutes feeding the baby while the coffee sits there gradually turning cold.
• We sit down for a meal, hungry, excited looking at the spread and the prospect of finally getting to enjoy the meal peacefully and our baby decides to poop at that very moment.
• We finally get the space to clean up the toys for the ‘n’th time at the end of a long day and just when we are done, our baby decides to spill something new.

According to Psychologist John Dollard, frustration is the “condition which exists when a goal-response suffers interference”. As such frustration is a natural outcome when these things keep happening consistently, where some really urgent needs of our baby regularly interfere with our goals as simple as eating. As the baby grows up, the nature of the reasons for frustration change but the experience of frustration persists.

Releasing this frustration in a safe space becomes important in order to make sure that this frustration doesn’t result in aggression in the form of snapping at or shouting at or even hitting our child. Let’s make sure we release this frustration in a way that’s healthy for us and everyone involved.

Activity:

Talk about your frustration to a person who won’t judge you for experiencing this natural feeling

Engage in some form of exercise regularly to release that pent up energy.

Take out some time for yourself regularly where you will be able to choose your actions and you won’t be interrupted.