Destructive Behaviour

Destructive tornado

When the sky darkens and the winds rise, we don’t storm outside and yell at the clouds.

We don’t demand the rain stop falling or the thunder to quiet down.

Because

we know the sky isn’t listening. It’s releasing pressure, shifting energy, and finding balance.

And so does a child in the middle of a meltdown.

Destructive behaviour isn’t about being “naughty” or “attention-seeking.”

It’s often a sign of internal pressure that’s been building quietly: sensory overload, frustration, fear, fatigue, unmet needs.

Like the atmosphere before a thunderstorm, that pressure has to go somewhere.

And when it does, it doesn’t look neat. It doesn’t sound polite.

It can come out as yelling, screaming, smashing, breaking, throwing, hitting, swearing.

We can’t avoid storms in weather or in childhood.

But we can learn to:

• Read the sky before it turns

• Lower our voice like lowering the blinds

• Create safe spaces to ride it out

• See behaviour as a weather report, not a personal attack

• Trust that the storm will pass

• Offer repair when the skies clear

We can’t stop the storms.

The goal is to stay calm through them.

To remind our child that no matter how loud the thunder gets, how much destruction has been caused, or how wild the winds,

they’re not too much.

They’re not alone.

And they are unconditionally loved.