If you’ve tried everything and nothing works, you might not be dealing with a difficult child—you might be raising a spicy kid.
The mom hung her head as she told me, “I barely want to admit it, but I’ve thought before…”
Why is she like this?
Why does everything have to be a fight?
Is it me?
She was exhausted from … meltdown after meltdown, power struggle after power struggle.
She kept wondering: Is there something wrong with her? Something wrong with me?
But then she learned about something that helped them both.
What We Think Is “Difficult” Is Often Something Else
When your child:
- Melts down over tiny things
- Can’t handle being told no
- Becomes aggressive or shuts down
- Pushes back on every. single. thing…
This behaviour is rarely about disrespect.
It’s about dysregulation.Their nervous system reacts before their thinking brain gets a vote. What looks like resistance is often panic in disguise.
Why “Nothing Works” With Spicy Kids
If you’ve tried:
- The 5-minute warning
- Calm, respectful language
- Rewards, consequences, bribes
- Yelling (then feeling guilty)
And your child still explodes, clings, screams, or refuses?
It’s because there’s important information that’s being shared beneath the behavior.
And most parenting strategies only target the surface.
But spicy kids need support that starts in the body—not the brain.
The Moment Everything Shifted
Once she started asking, What’s this behavior trying to tell me? instead of How do I stop it?, things started to change.
She learned:
- Her child wasn’t “too much”—she was deeply sensitive and didn’t have the tools yet
- The aggression came from overwhelm, not disrespect
- The control came from fear, not manipulation
- Her child wasn’t broken—and neither was she
She finally started looking at behaviour from the BOTTOM UP.
And while it didn’t fix everything overnight, the entire tone of their relationship softened.
Feel like your child is just too much?
Start with the Spicy Kid Freebie and learn:
- What makes spicy kids tick (and explode)
- Why typical parenting strategies backfire
- How to support your child through the dysregulation wave before it crests
You don’t need a new reward system. You need a new lens—and this guide will give it to you.
When You See It Differently, You Parent Differently
What if your child isn’t difficult?
What if they’re deep feeling, reactive, and sensitive—and they just haven’t learned how to ride the waves yet?
And what if you’re not failing, you’re just parenting a child who needs a different roadmap?
Grab the free guide to get the roadmap.
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I Thought My Child Was Just Difficult—Until I Learned This
If you’ve tried everything and nothing works, you might not be dealing with a difficult child—you might be raising a spicy kid.
-
Why Does My Child Freak Out Over the Smallest Things?
It’s not about the cup. Or the socks. Or who pressed the elevator button. Here’s what’s really going on—and what to do instead of dreading the next meltdown.
