Have Parenting Be More Fun!

Spring is here! Warmer weather has arrived. It is a time for new beginnings, new life, new ideas. Are you ready to have parenting be more fun, joyous, and delightful?

Recently I saw an article online about parenting. The main point of the article was that parenting is the hardest job you’ll ever do.  Do you sometimes feel this way? Is your child’s well-being worrisome and stressful to you?  Do you feel tired of frequent bickering, conflicts, and power struggles? Do you simply want parenting to be more fun and easy?

Parenting as a challenge and effort has never sounded good to me, and I’m sure this isn’t what you envisioned when you first became a parent. I believe parenting is intended to be fun, joyous, fulfilling, rewarding, loving, and amazing! Are you ready for more joy, magic, and ease in parenting? If yes, then keep reading.

As a child, my parents often talked about how much they enjoyed my brother Larry and me, how much they enjoyed being our parents. Of course, there were times when they didn’t seem to be having fun as parents; but I believe most of the time they enjoyed it.

I think my mom and dad made a choice to have parenting be enjoyable for them. It was a gift to themselves and to us. I know I made a choice to be the best mommie I knew how to be and to love and enjoy my son dearly.

When you became a parent, what choices did you make? Have you continued to be true to your original vision or have you lost your way? Perhaps you have you done what you thought was expected of you without consciously reflecting on what you wanted as a parent? Have you been on automatic, struggle and worry more than you want?

Today is the perfect day to either reaffirm your original choices as a parent or to make some new ones! It’s never too late, no matter your child’s age. I invite you to choose joy, delight, ease, amazement—all the parenting magic you want. This applies for all of you who are teachers also.

Being a successful, effective parent who raises a self-reliant child is definitely a worthwhile goal to aspire to, and I suggest you consider the following ideas.

1. To be truly successful and effective in raising a self-reliant child, it must be fun and nurturing to both you and your child. Without this, your effectiveness diminishes dramatically as does your child’s ability to make wise, self-supporting choices. There is nothing to be gained for you or your child by struggle and hardship.
2. No relationship with anyone is ever 100% free of conflict or challenge. This is a part of being human. By maneuvering skillfully through these uncomfortable times, however, you can create more joy, more love.

Love Joyously!

Here are some easy suggestions of things you can do to make parenting more fun.

1. Find a rut you’re in and get out of it. If some part of your relationship with your child is repetitive and you’re not enjoying it or it’s boring, then try something new.
   A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I rode Destiny and Echo on a trail we had ridden many times previously. This time we decided to ride the trail in reverse. Presto! It suddenly became a brand new trail. Find something like this you can do in your life.
2. Take a risk. Whenever you do something new, it may feel uncomfortable simply because it is new. Do something this week that puts you out of your comfort zone.
3. Find a new, more positive perspective on the routine in your life. When you do something because you “have to”, it takes all the fun out of it. Ask yourself “why” you want to do this. Then inspire yourself, find another way, or don’t do it.
4. Watch and learn from your child how to have fun.This is one area where your child has lots more knowledge than you. Let your child teach you how to have more fun.
5. Learn to set boundaries and reduce conflicts with your child. There is nothing like fighting and arguments to take the fun out of being a parent. To assist you with this, I invite you to take my TeleClass about setting limits this month, and begin to put more fun and magic into your relationship with your child.

Parenting can be one of the most fulfilling experiences of your life. Give this to yourself and to your child today!