Parenting: You Create Your Own Experience

Every mom is different. We each have our different beliefs and parenting styles. Some moms like to stay home and others like to work. Some moms like cloth diapers and some like disposable. Some moms believe in the “cry it out” method and some moms believe in rocking their babies to sleep. Some moms nurse and some moms bottle feed. The list of course goes on and on. We have all heard of them and we have all probably seen them. They are also called, “the mommy wars.” Something I love about each one of these scenarios, is that nobody is wrong. We each have children that we are trying to provide for and all hope to make their lives the very best.

A few months ago I was at the park and a mom started talking to me about her thoughts as a mom. She was struggling with the role of motherhood and “couldn’t wait to go back to work.” She didn’t like to stay home and she needed to have that time away. {As many of you know, I am completely opposite. I am obsessed with being a stay-at-home mom and would do pretty much anything to stay home with my baby!} Time went on and I asked her why she didn’t like staying home and she replied that she was “bored, that the baby was too young to do anything and all he did was sit there.” She also told me that she “couldn’t stand just sitting around and changing diapers all day.”

This woman didn’t know me and didn’t even know about my love for motherhood – but she taught me a lesson that day. This complete stranger at the park, taught me that when it comes to parenting, YOU create your OWN experience. YOU are the mom! YOU get to decide what you are going to do that day and if you will enjoy it. YOU get to decide if you are going to have fun or be miserable. YOU get to choose joy or misery.

This article is for moms everywhere. No matter how many kids you have or what your thoughts on motherhood are. I want to talk to the “okay” moms and how you can become “good” moms. I want to talk to the “good” moms and how you can become “better” moms. I want to talk to the “better” moms and how you can become the “best” moms.

I have come up with 8 things you can do every day, to make your parenting experience better. To bring your home, your family and YOU as a person, to the next level – to be a little happier!  And to help you enjoy motherhood a little bit more.

1. TAKE TIME FOR YOU – Every mom needs a little time to herself. I think if that cute mom at the park had some “mommy time” where should could read a book, take a bath or watch her favorite show, she may had been a little happier. We each need that time away. It isn’t selfish – it is needed. Make sure you get in some time every day, just for YOU.

2. KNOW THAT LIFE ISN’T EASY – Being a mom is hard and you shouldn’t go into thinking it would be otherwise. She was right, staying home and changing diapers all day IS hard, but you have to ask yourself, “is it worth it?!” And I can probably guarantee you, you will say YES!   

3. BE SPONTANEOUS – Just because you are a mom, doesn’t mean you can’t plan fun surprises and go on fun adventures! I am a big schedule person, but every now and then it is so fun to just go off and do something out of the ordinary. Like last week when we randomly stopped on the side of the rode to get snow cones, even though it was an hour past nap time already. 🙂

4. DO WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY – If going to work makes you happy, do it. If staying home makes you happy, do it. That is the beauty of life! We each will love doing different things – so do more of what makes YOU happy! Your children will recognize and feel when you are in a good mood.

5. BE THERE – Actually BE there. I tend to lose my patience more quickly when I am trying to get a million things done on the computer and I have a little one crawling all over me. I have had to learn to close the computer and put my phone away when my baby is awake. I tend to have a lot more fun when I focus on HER. You can read more about becoming “unplugged” here. 

6. LET THEM BE LITTLE – Kids are kids; so let them be little. It is okay if they spill. It is okay if they have a dirty diaper. It is okay if they cry. It is okay if they don’t understand you. That is the beauty of being little. They are still learning how to be kids, just like we are still learning how to be moms.

7. SLOW DOWN – All too often we think we need to be super mom and have a list of things to do and places to be. Slow it down. Say “no” to people. My favorite days are the days we hang out in our pjs and just PLAY! That is totally fine and it is super healthy!  

8. ENJOY THE LITTLE THINGS – One day we will miss those little feet on the floor, handprints on the windows and big piles of laundry. Enjoy each moment. Every little thing.

I wanted to grab the lady’s face at the park and look her in the eyes and say, “ENJOY THIS!!!” But I am not really like that. 🙂 So, I just replied by saying, “I hope you love and cherish your sweet boy. Being a mom is just a blessing!”

We all will have bad days. Being a mom is the hardest job! But always remember, “It’s just a bad day, not a bad life.” As moms, it is up to US to set the tone in our homes. If we are sad and miserable, it is hard for the people around us to be happier than that. When it comes to parenting, you create your OWN experience. It is completely up to YOU how this experience will be. Why not make it a good one?

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Danielle is the owner of Today's the Best Day. She strives to provide creative and uplifting content in order to enrich the parenting experience for women everywhere. Danielle hopes to help you and your family to make every day the best day!

June 17, 2014 by Danielle Davis | 3 Comments