Dealing with Frustration

Hello readers. This morning while I was eating breakfast I heard a story on the news that really caught my attention. The story said that an Easton, PA man had received 20 to 40 years in prison for killing his infant daughter by punching her in the head. (Story from CBS21) You can imagine why this caught my attention. I did a little research and found that he admitted to punching his daughter in the head because she wouldn’t stop crying. (Original story from PennLive)

What?!?! Are you serious? I am just trying to imagine this in my own head. An innocent, 8 week old baby, lying in my arms, screaming her head off. I can see rocking. I can see hugging. I can see kissing. I can even hear some low singing (given no one is around.) But it is impossible for me to envision punching this baby in any part of her body!

Dads, if you find yourself reaching this point, please lay the baby down in a safe space and walk away, immediately. Yes, the crying of a baby can be overwhelming. It can seem like it will not end. But seriously, a five minute breather can be enough for you to gather your senses and approach the situation with a cool head. I learned in class that a single hair on the bottom of a baby’s foot can be enough to make them scream non-stop. A single hair! Do you think you will be able to determine that while you are frustrated and angry? No, of course not. Take a deep breath, and then try again. Imagine if all that was wrong with this little baby was a hair on the bottom of her foot. How sad to think about.

Let me get some feedback from you. Are there any thoughts or reactions to this? Dads, what tricks did you try to either 1) collect your emotions when your baby was screaming and 2) get your child to calm down and stop crying when they were upset? Anybody else out there struggle with getting completely frustrated with their kids?

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