Katharine Leslie seminar - Reciprocity

I've put off doing this post (or any post) because this was the hardest part for me. The part where I needed to reread the Coming To Grips with Attachment book because I'm still not getting it. I feel like I understand why Bear acts the way he does, and I think I'm better about forgiving him and being less angry with him... but I'm still working on changing things. Of course, as always, I'm summarizing here. If you really want to know how to do this stuff, I can't recommend the Coming to Grips book high enough!



Here's what K.L. suggests you do to keep your level of resentment and anger low (and energy and kindness high).


1. Put yourself and your partner first!

• Ask, "Is this good for me? What's in it for me?"


• Are you including this child in a family activity out of guilt, pity, or because you would enjoy his company? If it's the former two get a sitter.


• Take breaks. It's OK to tell the child you don't have the energy to help them right now and you'll let them know when you're ready to come back (can be a day or weeks - as long as you're recharging).
  
  No emotional responsiveness allowed until you're ready to come back - this is what K.L. recommended for me.


• Tag team with your mate. Neither of you has to be supervising and disciplining all the time. I don't know how single parents do it!


• Date night is an absolute must! No talking about the kids! It's the latter that's hard for Hubby and me.

2. Be responsible for your own needs and insecurities.

• Your kids are not going to love or trust someone who is less in control than they are.


• Know the difference between your personality trait behaviors vs your behaviors that are a consequence of the relationship. Easiest way to tell? Ask yourself do you (or anyone else) act like this all the time with everyone or only in this relationship?

3. Stop beating yourself up! 

We often suffer from the "second arrow" effect.

The first arrow is your "bad behavior."

The second arrow is how you punish yourself for launching the first arrow. 

You need to accept how you feel and then change how you behave.

4. Shift Roles!

If you are feeling awful and/or acting punitive {THIS IS ME!}, you must shift roles {for me switching out of parent/warden role into coaching role}.

You can think positive thoughts and reframe your thinking all you want, but we often get stuck. 

• Give yourself permission to spend less time in the "parent" role. I know this is hard because the parent role is a huge part of your life! 
• Change your role. Think group home leader or coach. Maybe you can think of yourself as "neighbor mom" to that weird neighbor kid who is always at your house - like Kimmy Gibbler, Beans, or Steve Urkel. 

5. You don't have to love this child and they don't have to love you! 

Some of our kids just can't handle the love and intimacy of a family. An authentic parent-child relationship must begin without the expectation that we must love now.

6. Do not sacrifice your physical and emotional health! 

This is huge and takes practice, practice, practice, and scheduling. Do not take on the problems of others either (this includes negative friends who drain you!).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

HOW DO YOU GET RECIPROCITY?

To get reciprocity from your child you must TEACH him what you need and how to satisfy you. He doesn't know how and he cannot read your mind or learn by example.

For me, this was the most confusing part of Nancy Thomas and the like. Nancy Thomas said you must be the Queen Bee and demanded everyone rub your hands or brush your hair or something. 

Thanks to Katharine Leslie, now I get it!

Satisfying Your Needs
To feel filled up and comfortable, your child needs to be able to satisfy your needs.

So the question is what do YOU need? 

When KL asked me this question, my response was, "I need him to stop lying." "I want him to turn in his writing assignment." 

KL: "The former is a Stop Behavior and we're not ready to make those changes yet. The latter does not really answer the question of how is doing his writing assignment, or chores, or whatever, really benefit you and your relationship."

Instead, we have to figure out what we need. Maybe a good night hug? 

Hugs
Hugs were the example in the book. 

How to Hug:KL says Mom's arms are ALWAYS on top and only moms are allowed to pat. She very specifically teaches the child exactly where the hands go and how tightly she likes to be held.

{Bear does hug me, but always on his terms. When I demanded hugs on my terms Bear fought back and even got his therapist involved ("Mom hugs me too much. I'm not used to hugs, and it makes me uncomfortable." He got the therapist to make this my issue, and I backed off.) }

Ironically,  tonight the next example was "reenacted" by Kitty! Today is her 15th birthday and coincidentally we had therapy too. Our attachment therapist has never approached Kitty for affection (that's for Moms!), but after 3 years of therapy with Kitty and I, Kitty is no longer RAD. 

Tonight, after a walk down memory lane with Kitty, at the end of the session, the therapist asked Kitty if it was OK if the therapist hugged her. Kitty said OK. And the therapist hugged Kitty. Kitty just stood there for a second, then she hugged back. That's when I realized that Kitty has learned how to give good hugs! Before it was like hugging a plastic doll (tense/stiff and cold). Now she molds in and gently squeezes back.

Does Your Child "Get It?"

• Another example of a child who is "getting it." - K.L. overheard some of her children trying to figure out how to get her to take them somewhere. One child says, "Let's tell mom we'll weed the garden for her then maybe she'll take us." She taught them well!
  
• A parent comments about the rain, "Wow it's really pouring out there." The child says, "Not as much as yesterday." Rather than scold him for being contrary, mom says, "Honey, this is where you say to me, 'You are right Mom, it is really coming down.'" He repeats after Mom and she goes on to talk about how great this will be for her garden.
  {I love the technique, "This is where you say, '_____'." I use it all the time.}
  
• A child gets upset when you ask about an assignment and yells, "F___ you!" Obviously, this could mean grounding or some other punishment (which really is punishing you as well). Instead, you say, "Would you like a 'do-over?' Your response did not match the situation so I know something else is going on with you. This is where you say to me, 'Mom, I am so ticked off right now."

One of these would have been a great thing for us to have done Saturday night. 

Bear made the mistake of "growling" a response to Grandma in front of Hubby (Bear is usually on his best behavior in front of Hubby). 
Hubby confronted him on it, at which point Bear instantly dropped into defensive, Fight, Flight or Freeze mode and denied that he'd done it. Hubby then started arguing with him. Bear then claimed Grandma started it by yelling at Bear (perception!) Grandma did not yell and Hubby called him on that too. Bear then got upset with Hubby for "yelling" at him. At this point, Hubby said, what we always tend to say or at least want to say, "I'm not yelling. You want to hear me yelling? I can yell at you!" The situation denigrated to Bear saying he didn't want to be part of the family and he was leaving as soon as he could, and Hubby basically threatening, "you're not acting like part of the family anyway."

There were raised voices and all the kids were upset by the hour-long fighting/argument. Of course, this happened in Grandma's living room where Bear and Ponito sleep on Saturday nights - so BOTH kids were an hour late to bed. Bear did calm down so we let him stay at Grandma's.

Reframing
I wasn't part of this so I can more easily see what "should" have been done. *grin*

I think this probably could have all stopped by Hubby saying like, "Hey Bud, would you like to try that again? Your response did not match the situation so I know something else is going on with you. This is where you say, 'Grandma, I didn't understand what you're talking about and I'm really tired right now.'" 

If Bear chose not to "try again" and continues to argue defensively, then maybe Hubby could have said something like, "I can see you're not able to talk about this right now. That's OK. We can talk about it later." And walk away.


Which leads us to the next points:

• Do not over explain or lecture. K.L. says, "Stop talking. Take action!"
• Do teach appropriate family behavior and skills. Do not expect that doing so will guarantee that they will ever love you or that their past wounds will heal, or that their brains will function normally.

K.L.'s example:
KL's son came in while she was working and began babbling. Not to get her attention, just doing what came naturally. K.L. finally stopped him and said, "Son, another child would have thought to himself, gee my mom is really busy I won't bother her with silly stuff. I'm going to help out and vacuum the living room without being asked and without wanting something in exchange. I am going to do it just because it would make my mom happy." 
He said to her, "Well I didn't know that's what you would want." And he probably didn't/couldn't. She is teaching him step-by-step.