My teenage daughter and I both struggle with anxiety that keeps us up at night and we've started this pattern where we text each other when we can't sleep, but I'm realizing this might be teaching her that nighttime anxiety is something to immediately escape from rather than learn to sit with. I don't want to abandon her but I also don't want to model avoidance.
More people experience this than they realize.
A parent and child are using each other as emotional escape hatches during sleepless nights, preventing both from developing individual capacity to tolerate difficult states.
“Where Are You with Sleep and mental health?”
If this sounds familiar, the Library can help you find the bigger picture.