Despite my best attempts to avoid passing on my perfectionism to my son, I still see the signs in him—high expectations of himself, and harsh self-criticism when he doesn’t measure up. It has been incredibly painful to watch it unfold when I thought I was using parenting strategies that would prevent that! In part, we pass these traits on because our children are more influenced by our role modelling than our verbal instructions, and I am still on my own journey of letting go of perfectionistic tendencies. However, there are also things we say to our children in our everyday interactions that perpetuate this habit in our children, and I had a huge ‘aha’ about that a few months ago. Today I share that story and the strategies for bringing a new mindfulness to your interactions that can reduce your tendency to pass on your own perfectionistic tendencies.
Thanks for listening. If you have questions, comments or stories you’d like to share, please do so below. I’d love to hear from you! As always, you can also reach me at colleen@colleenadrian.com
Warmly,
Colleen
