{"id":12786,"date":"2017-03-31T13:09:41","date_gmt":"2017-03-31T18:09:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/?p=12786"},"modified":"2024-03-01T10:45:51","modified_gmt":"2024-03-01T17:45:51","slug":"minimalist-parenting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Parent Like a Minimalist"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had big ideas. I wanted to give my children the world. Like most new parents, I had the best of intentions.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Every generation wants to give their children more than they had themselves. My intention was no different\u2014I wanted to give my children more. More love. More protection. More opportunities. More toys.<\/p>\n

More, more, more.<\/p>\n

This desire for more was rooted in love.<\/p>\n

After I had children and they began to grow, there was a shift. This desire for more became rooted in fear.<\/p>\n

If I didn\u2019t play with them enough, would they be happy? If I didn\u2019t stand at least two foot from them at all times on the playground, would they fall? If I didn\u2019t land a spot in a top preschool, would their education be impacted?<\/p>\n

In the words of Erin Loechner<\/a>, \u201cNo one ever told me how much fear is hidden in love.\u201d<\/p>\n

All this fear, camouflaged as love, quickly started to take a toll on me. Trying to be everything and do everything for my children left me depleted.<\/p>\n

My desire to give my children more left me feeling less.<\/p>\n

Less energy. Less joy. Less calm.<\/p>\n

Then I found Minimalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Minimalism is more than just getting rid of all your stuff (although I am on that bandwagon too<\/a>). It\u2019s about filtering out the noise to focus your energy on what’s important.<\/p>\n

Families of today have noisy lives. I know this in my personal life, but also in my professional life. I have a Ph.D. in Child Development with a specialty in Family Wellness. I work with families to find calm amongst the noise.<\/p>\n

In families, the calm lies in balancing the needs of each individual while simultaneously tightening the strings that hold them all together.<\/p>\n

Sounds tricky, right?<\/p>\n

How to Parent Like a Minimalist<\/h2>\n

Fortunately minimalism has a secret formula for parents: Less is More<\/a>. Here are some lessons I\u2019ve learned on my journey toward a simpler family life:<\/p>\n

1. Hover less and your children will live more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We spend so much time protecting our children, we forget to let them live. When we hover over them and perseverate over safety, our fears can undermine a child\u2019s confidence. These fears rob them of their independence. Instead of hovering, let\u2019s instill a sense of responsibility and natural curiosity for the world.<\/p>\n

Allow your children to live life to the fullest<\/a>. Even if that means climbing to the top of the jungle gym without a spotter.<\/p>\n

2. Entertain less and your children will innovate more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many ways, Pinterest is a trap. The abundance of art, craft, and activity ideas that abound leave us feeling as though we need to do more to entertain our kids. Wouldn\u2019t it be easy if we could just flip a switch and provide unlimited entertainment for our kids?<\/p>\n

Oh wait, we can. We can limit screen time for our kids.<\/p>\n

When we provide endless varieties of entertainment for our children, we leave them with very little opportunity to create and explore new ideas on their own.<\/p>\n

So hear me out: Follow my lead and skip the Pinterest activities<\/a>. Then cut back on the screen time. Let kids be bored. Give them space. The innovation that results will astound you.<\/p>\n

3. Schedule less and your children will rest more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As humans, we need to rest our bodies and minds. This is particularly true of small bodies that are growing and maturing rapidly. Research show us that childhood anxiety is a rising epidemic<\/a> in this generation. A child who grows up with anxiety is significantly more likely to be plagued with mental health challenges throughout their adult years.<\/p>\n

Do you know what our children need? Rest.<\/p>\n

Do you know what we need? Rest.<\/p>\n

Stop making rest a luxury\u2014make rest a priority. The mental and physical health of your family depends on it.<\/p>\n

4. Referee less and your children will problem solve more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As parents, we wear many hats. One hat we need to hang up is that of the referee. Parents have the tendency to jump in and solve any disputes and challenges that children come across. It\u2019s easier to be the referee than watch two kids awkwardly settle their own disagreement. It\u2019s easier to be jump in and help than wait ten minutes for a kid to fumble through shoe tying.<\/p>\n

After you hang up that hat, get comfortable sitting on the sidelines in silence. Kids need a lot of practice to learn how to problem solve\u2014so let\u2019s give them many chances to do it for themselves.<\/p>\n

5. Buy less and your children will seek more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Research shows that clutter is associated with higher levels of stress in families. Have you yelled at your kids to clean up their rooms recently? If your home has less inside, it is easier to clean up. It is easier to take good care of fewer things.<\/p>\n

You know what doesn\u2019t have a long-term impact on a child happiness? The latest hit toy. Buy your children less, and as a result, they will be able to better filter out the noise and focus on the important things.<\/p>\n

Studies tell us that family vacations and togetherness<\/a> have a long term impact on a child\u2019s happiness. Let\u2019s teach our children to value \u201cstuff\u201d less and experiences more.<\/p>\n

What are you doing less of to help your kids get more out of life?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was pregnant with my first child, I had big ideas. I wanted to give my children the world. Like most new parents, I had the best of intentions. Every generation wants to give their children more than they had themselves. My intention was no different\u2014I wanted to give my children more. More love. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1772,"featured_media":13052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Parent Like a Minimalist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to Parent Like a Minimalist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"No Sidebar\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nosidebar\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/simplefamilies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-03-31T18:09:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-01T17:45:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"940\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"492\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Denaye Barahona\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@nosidebar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@nosidebar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Denaye Barahona\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/\",\"name\":\"How to Parent Like a Minimalist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-03-31T18:09:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-01T17:45:51+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/020e2ae0f4eaf5db0c62f88772ef2e99\"},\"description\":\"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg\",\"width\":940,\"height\":492},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How to Parent Like a Minimalist\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/\",\"name\":\"No Sidebar\",\"description\":\"Design a Simple Life\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/020e2ae0f4eaf5db0c62f88772ef2e99\",\"name\":\"Denaye Barahona\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc0187f7a14f6e7b925e8e5a3ed4e7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc0187f7a14f6e7b925e8e5a3ed4e7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Denaye Barahona\"},\"description\":\"Denaye Barahona is the founder of\u00a0Simple Families, where her podcast and blog\u00a0deliver the essentials\u00a0for living well\u00a0with your kids.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/simplefamilies\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/author\/denaye-barahona\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to Parent Like a Minimalist","description":"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to Parent Like a Minimalist","og_description":"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.","og_url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/","og_site_name":"No Sidebar","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/nosidebar\/","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/simplefamilies\/","article_published_time":"2017-03-31T18:09:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-03-01T17:45:51+00:00","og_image":[{"width":940,"height":492,"url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Denaye Barahona","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@nosidebar","twitter_site":"@nosidebar","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Denaye Barahona","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/","url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/","name":"How to Parent Like a Minimalist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg","datePublished":"2017-03-31T18:09:41+00:00","dateModified":"2024-03-01T17:45:51+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/020e2ae0f4eaf5db0c62f88772ef2e99"},"description":"Minimalism is about filtering out the noise to focus on what\u2019s important. When it comes to parenting like a minimalist, that means less is more.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg","width":940,"height":492},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/minimalist-parenting\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How to Parent Like a Minimalist"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/","name":"No Sidebar","description":"Design a Simple Life","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/020e2ae0f4eaf5db0c62f88772ef2e99","name":"Denaye Barahona","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc0187f7a14f6e7b925e8e5a3ed4e7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ecc0187f7a14f6e7b925e8e5a3ed4e7a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Denaye Barahona"},"description":"Denaye Barahona is the founder of\u00a0Simple Families, where her podcast and blog\u00a0deliver the essentials\u00a0for living well\u00a0with your kids.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/simplefamilies\/"],"url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/author\/denaye-barahona\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/minimalist-parenting.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1772"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12786"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12786\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35345,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12786\/revisions\/35345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nosidebar.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}