RAD Moms, Glass Children and COPING SKILLS

Children are well known for their impressive coping skills.

Said no one ever. 

Glass children even less so. When parents are overwhelmed with the care of a special needs, mentally ill RAD (Reactive Attachment Disorder) child, their glass children end up with gaps in their emotional growth. One of those gaps is coping skills. 

Moms themselves are barely holding on by their fingernails and are just doing their very best to keep everyone safe day by day. Their coping skills are pushed to the edge, how are they supposed to teach appropriate coping skills to their glass children?

They don’t. 

No. They can’t. 

So, glass children learn coping skills from:
•watching their stressed out mothers and fathers
•watching their mentally ill sibling/s with RAD
•watching other siblings
•watching friends, if they still have any (RAD families are often isolated due to the nature of the mental illness)

This is why one of my jobs is to teach self-awareness and self-regulation, aka coping skills. Horses are amazing at this work. They won’t connect when kids are dysregulated but when a simple, “step one” coping skill like breathing is implemented, the horse tunes back in with the child—proving to them that it works and rewarding them for trying. As the simple skills are mastered, we move on to more difficult emotional work, like speaking feelings out loud and asking for what they want or need. Big work for kids who have always been known as “the good ones, the quiet ones, the ones who never need anything.” 

If you have a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder and a healthy child who needs extra support, please contact me at julia@themotherranch.com or 720-635-7015. Watch your "easy kids" for signs of depression, withdrawal from the family, immersing themselves in obsessive behaviors that keep them checked out from reality, and bursts of rage. Set up a free tour of the Mother Ranch and visit the facility, the horses, mini donkeys, goats, sheep, chickens, and dogs. Sessions here gives your child a chance to get away from the life of a glass child, learn self-awareness and regulation (coping skills) and how to create safe and connected relationships. 

Hi, I'm Julia and I'm a trauma-informed certified Equine Gestalt Coach, Reiki Master, and artist. I combine my skills to create an individualized care plan for each client. As an adoptive mother of two (one healthy and one with RAD), I am intimately familiar with the trials and tribulations RAD moms and their glass children face as they navigate the muddy waters of life with a mentally ill child. While I see many types of people in my practice, my heart and my specialty is the health and healing of RAD moms and their glass children. 
Learn more at The Mother Ranch.