Escaping the “Family Crazy Cycle”

Parenting is only for adults.

That’s what Dr. Emerson Eggerichs tells parents who struggle with what he calls the “family crazy cycle.”

It works like this: When children feel unloved, they tend to react in ways that feel disrespectful toward their parents. When parents feel disrespected, they tend to react in ways that feel unloving to the child.

And the cycle starts to spin.

Parenting is only for adults because it’s up to mom and dad – not the child – to stop the crazy cycle. It’s okay to acknowledge that you don’t like feeling disrespected by your children, but that can’t become an excuse to react toward them in unloving ways. God expects you to rise above your emotion and to respond with healthy, productive, loving behavior.

How should we parents handle those moments? GUIDES is an acronym Dr. Eggerichs uses to teach people how to parent God’s way:

Giving
Understanding
Instruction
Discipline
Encouragement
Supplication

Dr. Eggerichs is with us on our program to talk about these principles from his book Love and Respect in the Family: The Love Children Need.

He touches on each of those topics with transparent stories of his own childhood and his parenting journey. He paints a vivid picture of how vital love and respect are to the health of a family unit.

Join us for our program “Empowering Your Family Through Love and Respect” with Dr. Emerson Eggerichs on your local radio station, online, or on our free phone app.