05/30/2026
It was never really about the sweater.
Earlier this year, Brittany shared a story about one of her sons having a complete meltdown over being given the “wrong” sweater.
While the sweater may have been the trigger, the real lesson was about something much bigger: disappointment, frustration, communication, and the boundaries we choose to hold as parents.
As parents, we’re often faced with a choice between making the problem disappear and helping our children learn a skill they’ll need for life.
Read Brittany’s article below about why sometimes the hardest parenting moments can become the most valuable teaching moments.
The other morning, one of our almost 5-year-old sons was cold and wanted to wear a sweater to school.
No problem—I ran upstairs and grabbed one for him.
Wrong move.
Apparently, it needed to be the gray one. The fuzzier one. The specific one. And when I came back down with a blue sweater instead, it was like I had completely ruined his morning.
He started yelling. Screaming. Melting down.
And in that moment, I had a choice.
I could go back upstairs, grab the gray sweater, and make it all stop. It would have taken 30 seconds. The tears would have dried instantly. The morning would have moved on like nothing happened.
But I knew something bigger was happening.
Because once the yelling started, the gray sweater wasn’t the issue anymore.
The issue was how he was handling frustration.
So I held the boundary.
Not because I didn’t want to help him—but because I do.
Because giving in at that moment wouldn’t have taught him how to handle being disappointed. It wouldn’t have helped him learn that yelling at someone isn’t how you get what you want. It would have just made the meltdown disappear … for now.
So we went through it.
The tears. The anger. The frustration.
And it wasn’t easy. It would have been so much quicker (and quieter) to just fix it for him.
But parenting isn’t always about ending the meltdown as fast as possible. Sometimes it’s about what comes after.
Later, when things were calm, we talked about it. About how if he had said, “Mom, I was really hoping for the gray one—can I grab that instead?” the answer would have been yes.
In our house, communication is always honored.
But disrespect isn’t.
And that’s the part that only gets learned if we’re willing to go through the hard moment—not around it.
This post was written by Brittany Taussig. Visit Brittany:
On FB Brittany Taussig or RISE Behavioral Consulting, LLC
You can also find her on IG .behavioral.consulting
