Your Parenting Intention Glow Up

Instead of trying to be a better parent, let’s start being better to ourselves.

The very simple way I do that every day is with a daily gratitude practice. 

I am training my brain to notice the good things that happen each day instead of just the bad. 

At some point, I was just ready to parent differently. Maybe you are ready too?

“Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise so I am changing myself.” -Rumi

Parenting is a constant and evolving process and you need to decide what you want out of the relationship. As the Buddhist teacher Jack Kornfield says at baby blessings: “You now have a live-in Zen Master - they are here to help you grow”. It’s never going to be over, your kids will always be your kids and every day they offer you an opportunity for deep and reflective self-growth.

I have come to look at it as a practice in true authentic self-care more than anything else. At the beginning of this self-care practice, I softened my intention to be a “Perfect Mother” to just becoming a better parent for my kids. But now after many years of practice, my intention is to just be happy.  

And most days I am. I surprise myself with how far I’ve come every day and I stand in amazement - really in awe - at how good it feels to be ok with imperfection.

Don’t expect to come to my house and see me interacting with my kids like some magical Mary Poppins though because that will be very far from what you see.

We have plenty of days where we argue and I yell and things are really hard. But the difference is that those days don’t define me anymore. I can meet my children where they are and support them in a way that sends me deeper into the circular practice of gratitude and contentment.

My intention to be happy is stronger than my intention for perfection ever was because I look for the good in every day and I reflect on what went right and not on what went wrong. Because there is a difference between wishing things would change and intending to make those changes for yourself.

My goal is to help you to begin the process of shifting your current type of parenting to something a little bit different, something that may result in you being a little bit happier. It may not be better right away, but we all learn through experience, growth doesn’t happen overnight. So what is your intention - what are you ready to stop wishing for and make a practice instead? It’s time for a parenting glow up so let’s get started today.