Got a parenting problem? Welcome to the club!
All parents face challenges they never imagined while expecting their first child. Parenting is not easy but when it ceases to be enjoyable and fulfilling parents need to seek help and advice. However, advice is absolutely useless if you’ve completely run out of energy to implement the advice! And so often, parents only seek help once their energy is at zero. This short clip summarises our #1 Parenting Rule.
So what can parents do to get more energy?
Get enough sleep!
Balance your life style so that you are getting 9 – 10 hours rest each night. What if your kids are keeping you awake? Take them to bed with you, set up a bed for them on the floor. Check out our sleep article, as ongoing sleep problems are usually sign of a child needing more contact and closeness with their parent. Our sleep resource is one of our most popular resources as it’s different to most theories and works on the cause of the sleep challenge, not the symptoms.
Have a healthy diet.
What goes in must come out! Eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts, whole grains and legumes. We recommend www.revive.co.nz for some awesome healthy meals and recipes.
Exercise.
The great thing about exercise is that you can do it with your children – so it can help to solve relationship challenges, behaioural problems as well as exercise for you. And it gets you and the kids away from those addictive screens.
Less Screen time.
Let’s face it. Screen time is addictive for parents and children. Have a rule – limit your screen time and your kids screen time. In our family there are no screens after the evening dinner. Find what works for your family and stick to it. Above all, no screen time before bed. And don’t keep your phone in your room!
Family Fun.
Remember when you wanted children? You dreamed of all those fun family things you would do? Now it’s time to discipline yourself to get off the treadmill and make those fun times happen. They don’t happen without deliberate effort. So write a list of what your ideal family would do together and timetable it. Fun brings delight, comfort, closeness and joy. We all want more of that in our lives.
Check out our interventions for attachment friendly solutions to common parent challenges.
Next:
Parent Rule #2
