This is a collaborative post.
Life is pretty intense when you’re a parent. You’re juggling a job, a household, a relationship, and trying to be a parent all at the same time. It’s not easy by anyone’s standards. While parents can keep everything more or less together, there’s always the chance that they’re overlooking a key part of their child’s development, purely through a lack of time and too much stuff going on. But there are ways to streamline the essential aspects of being a parent, building them around your hectic lifestyle.
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Managing Playtime
All children love to play, but when a parent gets home from work, they’re usually too tired to play with them. The key here is to essentially make your child do all the work. If you don’t have the energy to match theirs, simply lie on the floor next to them; they’ll provide all the energy necessary. They might just be climbing over you, but it’ll be fun to them. This of course only really works with small children – you don’t want a grown child jumping on top of you!
Keeping Their Health in Check
We think of children as naturally healthy because they’re always playing, but they still need to be educated about diet and lifestyle, and they also pick up a fair few bugs and illnesses just through the course of school life. If you’re always busy, you won’t have always have the time to take them to the doctor to get these illnesses taken care of. Instead, streamline the process by having an online GP at hand; they’ll get the medical advice they need, and you’ll have peace of mind without losing some of your precious time. You can also ensure they eat correctly by learning to cook a few simple, healthy meals. It doesn’t take as much time as you might think to prepare healthy meals for the family!
Keeping Things Simple
Your child has plenty of needs that come naturally; they don’t always need new ones invented more for them. While it’s a good idea for them to have extracurricular activities, if they’re learning to play the violin, learning Spanish, and joining a sports team then they’re probably doing too much. These things are usually enforced by the parent; instead, ask them to select one or two activities that they really enjoy. They’ll develop a stronger connection to that activity, and you won’t have to run them around to a host of different lessons multiple nights a week.
Being a Relaxed Parent
Your life is hectic; you do not need to be. Children learn a lot from the way their parents act, and if you’re constantly on edge, acting frantically, then your child might too. This will only make the problem worse if you’re trying to keep everything under control, but both you and your child are not relaxed. Instead, try to maintain a calm demeanor in life. You can’t always control one happens to you, but you can control how you react – and it’ll make life much more enjoyable.
