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Home › Articles › Holiday: Winter › A Holiday for Mom

A Holiday for Mom

Taming Your Inner Brat for a Joyful Season

By Pauline Wallin, Ph.D.

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Shopping becomes a pain, malls are crammed and there are no parking places. Cookies, candies, eggnog and other goodies are making you fat. You have to buy a gift for someone you don't particularly like and grumble all the way. You need to buy another useless gift for your "so-called" friend. Your "inner brat" will tell you to go ahead and eat everything you want after all, it's the holidays, and you deserve it!

 

Taming Your Inner Brat
Your "inner brat" will have you complaining each and every day. You'll be the one sounding the horn at the little old lady trying to find a parking space and then wondering what the heck you are doing. "It's the holidays! Why can't I be nice?" The secret is in tamingthe inner brat that encourages our self-destructive behavior.

What is that naughty little voice inside our heads that helps us rationalize sneaking just one more cigarette or throwing temper tantrums or holding petty gossip sessions or just plain old getting nasty during the holidays? The inner brat.

The bad news is that this inner brat not only makes us miserable, but it also sets a poor example for our children. The good news is that the inner brat can be tamed, especially if we can see our behavior from a more objective viewpoint, which makes it harder to justify our bratty behavior.

 

It Starts With You
The holidays present a gold mine of opportunities for your inner brat to make a pest of itself. Because of the hectic nature of the season, there are more situations that make you edgy and irritated malls are crowded and parking lots are full. Shopping is a pain, even on the Internet, where connections are slow at the popular merchandise sites. Your inner brat insists that you should be able to park wherever you want, buy whatever you want and never have to wait more than 30 seconds. However, if you pay too much attention to this voice in the back of your mind, you'll end up frustrated and angry.

Another set of inner brat opportunities is in the endless temptation of food and drink during this month. All around you are cookies, candies, wine, eggnog and other seasonal goodies. Your inner brat tells you to go ahead and eat and drink everything you want. After all, it's the holidays, and you deserve it.

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