Using the ‘calm mom voice’ is tough in stressful situations – like when a giant tree falls right in front of you and the kids. Laura Smith Borrman has this Perspective.
I’ve had to use it too often over the last few years. The “calm mom” voice. It’s the forced-zen quality I inject into my tone when on the inside I’m terrified, but have to show my kids things will be okay.
It happened a couple years ago when wildfire blocked our passage across the Carquinez Bridge and we had to turn around against traffic.
It happened when the daytime skies blazed orange in the Bay Area, the air thick with smoke, and we were already stuck inside for Zoom school.
And it happened recently when a three-story-tall tree crashed down in front of our car as we drove to taekwondo. The dreary weather had made it hard for us to leave the house in the first place. But I was insistent that we keep our commitments. When that tree fell, we scrapped the plan and returned home to shelter from hurricane-level winds.