How To Make Parenting Easier

Do you think that parenting is hard and wish it could be easier?  If so, you’re not alone.  I hear this from parents all the time — that’s why they come to me for help!   And when we start working together, the first thing we work on is the belief that parenting can be easier!

Before I go any further, I truly want you to know that if you’re really struggling, I get you.  I absolutely know that there are many days that parenting is hard, and I’ve had my share of them.  The problem is that when you think that parenting is hard, you’re actually making it harder for parenting to become easier.  It’s like trying to lose weight when you don’t believe that any diets work for you.  You just can’t get there from here.

This is actually based on brain science.  Our brains are very literal and have no sense of humor.  So when we think that parenting is hard, our brains will look for all of the evidence as to why it’s hard.  It won’t think of any solutions or even be open to the possibility that it could be easier.  Your brain is running a parenting is hard program, and everything gets filtered from that perspective.

To make parenting easier, the first thing to do is to stop thinking that parenting is hard!  

Now, if you’re like many of my clients, you might be thinking, there is no way — I just can’t make that leap.  I do recognize that you can’t immediately begin thinking parenting is easy.  If you have been thinking that it’s hard and you have tons of evidence to back up how hard it’s been, your brain is going to put up a fight.  It does not believe that parenting is easy and it’s going to double-down on showing you all the evidence as to why it can’t be easy and why it’s hard.

So you want to meet your brain where it is, and open your mind to the possibility that it could get easier.  You do this by starting with the thought of I’m open to the possibility that parenting could get easier.  How does that sound?  Does that make you feel a little better, a little lighter?  We make it easier for your brain to accept by adding the words possibility and could.  We’re not saying it’s definite and it is easier, we’re just saying it’s possible and it could be easier.

When you start thinking I’m open to the possibility that parenting could get easier, your brain starts looking for evidence and solutions on how it can be easier — so it starts to get easier!  It really is that simple. You just have to keep repeating the thought I’m open to the possibility that parenting could get easier every time your brain wants to tell you that it’s hard.

This is actually just one of twenty tips in my 20 Tips in 20 Days Series!  There are 19 more simple, quick, and practical tips that are easy to try.  In less than 3 minutes a day, you can make parenting so much easier in 2022!  You can sign up to get the Twenty Tips at https://www.melpeirce.com/twentytips

Happy Parenting!