Is parenting a hobby for you?

I’m going to speak controversially, so buckle up. I spoke to a parent the other day who loved her child with all her heart, but was so stuck in the hustle of her day-to-day routine that she appeared to be parenting as if it was a hobby.

You know what I mean: looking at pretty Pinterest lists about great ways to teach your child how to have high self-esteem, beautiful pictures of behavior charts that claim to teach responsibility and family values, and lists of “calming oils” that are going to instantly help her child feel less overwhelmed.

But the fact was, she wasn’t putting half of this free advice into practice in her home. Her child was still struggling. Her marriage was still strained, and she felt like a crap parent.

To put it bluntly, she’s treating her role of parent like a hobby.

Now, please know, I’m not here to place blame or shame, it’s important to note that this is common for parents of Highly Sensitive Kids who just don’t know how to get out of this rut.

I’ve done it too— not with parenting, as I’ve invested years and hundreds of thousands into my specialty, but in other aspects of my life: I didn’t see real change until I took massive action to manage the ideas and dreams I had for myself.   

It’s easy to get overwhelmed, bogged down by the day to day schedule, and then at one moment of clarity identify that your kid has been having meltdowns 3x/day for the last 90 days.

That’s 270 times in the last 3 months that your child felt overwhelmed by his own existence. No one was put on this earth to suffer like that.

The best way to break this pattern is to hold yourself up to a mirror. Is the life you’re living satisfying your expectations? Are you creating your own reality with a decisive, committed mindset, or are you ‘going through the motions’?

If these questions make you uncomfortable, it’s probably the latter and it’s time to decide whether you’re going to take action. I’m not here to convince you to do that.

Decide what you can do to make your life easy, comfortable, and full of peace. And if you don’t know where to start, book a call to decide how you can help your child create a sense of internal peace without flipping your household upside down in the process.