I turned myself inside out trying to protect our kids, but hypervigilance + high anxiety does not make for optimal parenting. During the holidays I tend to mentally revisit my faults in this regard.
I had a huge amount of anxiety, every day, that transferred to our young children no matter how much I tried to mask it. Also as a codependent I was very controlling of my kids, I believe as a way of attempting to manage my anxiety over our situation. Still wrestling with control issues but have gotten better - and they are young adults now and don't listen to me anyway
