As therapists, we spend time thinking about and developing smooth transitions. Transitions to and from the therapy setting, transitions between experiences, transitions when gearing up for vacations, leaves, and outgoing and incoming therapists. One reason transitions are important is that they can make or break how safe a client feels, which is paramount for any therapeutic “work” to happen.
Transitions don’t just happen as a part of therapy, though. My whole life right now is one big transition.
In the past two weeks, we have seen all four sets of grandparents. That may not seem like such a big deal…until you consider that they live in North Carolina, Kentucky, Washington DC, and Kansas City. Then next week, my oldest starts kindergarten. Two days before his first day of school, we are switching daycares for both kids. The final transition? Back to school for mommy towards the end of the month.
See? One big transition. Now I fully believe and understand that my family will come out of this rather bumpy period unscathed. Still, I’m still paying a little extra attention to the kiddos, making sure they still seem happy and aren’t showing any stress-related behaviors (beyond what’s typical for them, anyway). And maybe I’m over-thinking this, but I think these periods of life are good practice for developing resiliency and flexibility.
So I am in full-fledged Mommy CEO mode. Navigating these life transitions isn’t the same as facilitating therapeutic transitions, but they’re still important. And they will hopefully help my kids practice and understand that life changes, it takes twists and turns, but they will be okay.
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Wow, that is a lot of change for a few short weeks! I’ve been reminded recently that we have skills as MTs for handling transitions. My almost-two-year-old definitely needs some of those transition-type songs. I’m not sure why it takes me so long to remember this skill sometimes!
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