The Number One Way To Stay Calm When It Comes To Parenting

There is no doubt that parenting is stressful. Being a mom and a dad are hectic. However, oftentimes parents make their parenting jobs even more difficult than they need to be because they are focusing on the wrong things! And with that said, the number one way to stay calm when it comes to parenting is to choose the right battles and ditch the wrong ones. Unsure of what battles to pick? Let’s go over that now. 

What Are The Right Battles To Choose?

What you need to do as a parent is to take a look at the big picture as far as what you want for your kids. You need to ask yourself what is truly important when it comes to raising your kids. Your automatic answer may be that you want them to be decent people who will respect others as well as themselves. And that is the ultimate goal. However, what else are you focusing on when it comes to parenting in addition to that? Let’s go over what you should be focusing on when it comes to raising your kids:

• They do their best in school and in life – You want your kids to be responsible people and that means you want to encourage them to do their best in school. That means not to slack off or study for a test or an exam at the last minute. Otherwise, that no-care attitude will leak into other areas of their lives. School is not only there for academic education, but it prepares them on how to become responsible in general. 
• To be responsible with their money – Parents should always teach their kids to save the money that they earn so they understand the value of the dollar. Once they gain an understanding of that, they will not rack up credit card debt, will save their money, and pay off loans and mortgages on time. 
• To be active and to eat well – Kids need to be active in order to stay healthy and to understand why eating well is important. This means to only bring in healthy and nutritious foods which can be done easily by using meal kits so that it removes the stress of grocery shopping and meal planning. Kids need to know that what they do as far as caring for their physical health when they are young will likely have a positive impact on their overall health when they are older. 

Those are the things that parents need to focus on in order to keep parenting as simple and calm as possible. Because choosing the wrong battles will only bring extra stress. Let’s look at the wrong battles that parents often choose which creates more stress in the long run:

What Are The Wrong Battles To Choose?

• The mom that always ‘gets it right’ – In other words, striving to be the ‘perfect’ mom is not realistic. Moms are human and will make mistakes and learn from them. That also means not to become obsessed with the battles to choose from. For instance, if you did not have a meal kit for one night and you are too tired to cook, it is okay to order in pizza or to grab fast food. It happens and the occasional junk food dinner will not hurt the kids!
• An obsession with high grades in school – Kids need to learn to do their best, and if they are good at a subject where high grades are possible, then that is understandable. If they struggle in a subject and their best is not the ideal grade, then celebrate that they did their best. Not all kids are meant to make it in the honor roll and moms and dads need to let that go. Obsessing on it will not only bring stress to the parents but to the kids as well. That can also hurt their self-esteem. 
• Perfect clothing isn’t always attainable – Parents should always encourage their kids to be groomed and neat. That does not mean that they have to worry about getting the most expensive clothing that they cannot realistically afford. Parents need to let that obsession go. 

Think about it. Removing those three ideals from how to raise your kids will bring a lot more calmness when it comes to parenting. Relax. There is no such thing as perfection and as long as your kids do their best, that is a huge accomplishment. Choose the right battles and only the right ones.