Fast Company Daily Your calm is contagious but so is your chaos
Oct 14, 2025
Explore the hidden effects of parental burnout on kids and how stress disrupts their emotional climate. Discover how emotional regulation is contagious, with calmness or chaos impacting children's well-being. Learn about quick practices like 60-second driveway breaths that help parents reset. Get insights into digital tools for tracking moods and managing stress. Understand therapy as a form of preventive mental fitness that strengthens family stability. Finally, realize that modeling resilience and recovery offers lifelong benefits to children.
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Bathroom Breath Break
- A friend hides in the bathroom for 10 minutes after putting kids to bed to breathe and avoid crying into mac and cheese.
- Kathleen Davis uses this story to illustrate parents quietly triaging stress while juggling work and family demands.
Emotional States Are Contagious
- Children pick up parents' emotional states because emotional regulation is contagious, says Dr. Ragu Apasani.
- A parent's chronic stress shapes the family's emotional climate and can erode a child's sense of safety over time.
Use Micro-Pauses Daily
- Take 60 seconds between activities, like breathing in the driveway after a Zoom call, to reset your nervous system.
- These micro-pauses act like emotional shock absorbers so you show up calmer and more present for your kids.