Can You Tell Your Kid Is Stressed Just By Looking At Them?

I can. With Molly it’s easy. It’s all in the lips. She tenses the muscles around her mouth, making her lips into a weird little pucker. Even when she smiles her lips are tense.

Here’s an example….

Earlier this week we went to the park. This is typically a pleasurable experience for Molly and she squeals with glee when she sees the playground equipment from the window of the van.

But on this particular day she had the stress-mouth thing. I have no idea why. There was nothing different about the park, or the day, or the kids. At least I don’t think there was, but every.single.picture. I took made it striking clear that there was something going on. I asked her 10 different ways what was bothering her, but got nothing. Maybe she didn’t really know.

I felt so bad for Molly. Visiting the park is one of her all time favorite activities but she clearly wasn’t having fun. And to top it off her maniac mom was going around taking pictures of all that stress.See of you can tell in these pictures.

Like I said before it’s all in the lips.

Even when she was giggling, the lips were still tense. Can you see it, or is it just one of things that only a mother can tell?

After we returned home, I heated up a bowl of homemade chicken soup, one of Molly’s favorites….(Excuse the make-shift bib—Molly is a sloppy soup slurped!)

And all was right with the world again!