"Just stay calm." "Be the calm in the storm." Easy to say, impossible to do when you're already depleted from co-regulating through three transitions before breakfast, making seventy decisions, and absorbing your child's anxiety all morning. Here's the truth: you can't lend your child a calm nervous system if yours is running on empty. And trying harder to "stay calm" when you're already dysregulated? That's not a reasonable expectation—it's not even biologically possible.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• Why your child's nervous system is constantly scanning yours for cues of safety or danger

• What's happening in your body when chronic stress shrinks your "window of tolerance"

• How to notice your early warning signs before you're already yelling or shut down

• The micro-moments of regulation (30 seconds to 2 minutes) that actually work in real-time

• Why repair after dysregulation matters more than perfect calm

• When you need professional support for your own nervous system (and why that's not weakness)

By the end of this episode, you'll understand what's actually happening in your body when your child is dysregulated, why "just stay calm" doesn't work, and what you need to do to regulate yourself so you can help regulate your child.

Resources mentioned: Sign up for the newsletter at www.climbingfishparenting.com for a specific regulation technique that works in under 60 seconds—plus instant access to the Frustration Tolerance Scripts & Practice Guide.

Your kid isn't broken. Your parenting isn't broken. Sometimes we're just asking our fish to climb trees. That's what we fix here.