The Highly Sensitive Parent Quotes

“I often feel like my life is not my own. I am so attached to others’ happiness and care.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You

“I was there, but not there. I got through the day. Made the meals. Paid the bills. Did the laundry. Played chauffeur. Managed all the obligatory tasks in robotlike fashion because that is all I had to give. Outwardly, I appeared capable. Needless to say, I was not a bastion of warmth and security for my kids or my husband.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You

“I absolutely love parenting and have wanted it my whole life but find that I am constantly overwhelmed.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You

“If you need to go on playdates, the expectation when you have young children is that you chat with the other parent while the children play. You may need to do that sometimes, but when you don’t feel up to it, perhaps you can find an excuse to stay in your car. Perhaps you have to finish some reading for another commitment, but you are close by if needed. The other parent may be relieved to be able to go about their own business, too. If you talk it over, perhaps you can agree to do more playdates like this in the future.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You

“However, even time with friends can become overstimulating. All HSPs find social interactions especially stimulating because in any social interaction, we are processing deeply what is being said and what we want to say back while feeling empathy, whether we want to or not. Then we are also noticing all the subtleties in what is going on around the interaction, within the interaction, and in the other person. All of this means that social stimulation is the source of probably the majority of the stimulation we deal with in life, and therefore the source of much of our feeling overstimulated.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You

“BOUNDARIES The extreme nature of everything I’ve experienced as a mother has also taught me the need for boundaries. I have learned to value my own limited energy and resources, and so I will ask my children to help me around the house. If they choose not to help, they will lose some valued object or activity.”
― Elaine N. Aron, The Highly Sensitive Parent: Be Brilliant in Your Role, Even When the World Overwhelms You