If you fast forward in your mind to your children’s wedding day, what do you think about? Do you think about the current issue you have with that particular work colleague? Do you think about that report you have due or the looming deadline? I don’t, and I’m guessing those questions were rhetorical and you don’t either.
How often do we flash forward in our thinking to bring our ‘now’ issues into a different light and view them with a new perspective? I know I’m all about slowing down and being present, but I also like to reflect on how I’m currently parenting by jumping forward to the ‘future me’ and asking her if she cares about this problem.
Usually she says ‘no’.
Sometimes when I’m working with people who are in conflict with a work colleague, I remind them that this person will not be in your life forever. They will cease to exist to you. So why allow that negative energy to impact your wellbeing, health and your patience with your children when you get home. Let’s be honest with ourselves, when things are stressful at work, we aren’t very patient with our children.
These aren’t our best Mum moments.
But parenting on Hourglass Time empowers you to recognise the ‘now moments’, shake that issue at work off and be present with your ever-changing children. The moments we have with them are so fleeting. “They grow up so fast – don’t miss it”.
Honestly before things hit breaking point for me and Hourglass Time was born, I don’t think I had really given this any thought. I knew I wanted children, I always had. In fact, if you ask my friends from childhood, they’ll tell you that I used to say I was going to have 12 children – don’t tell my husband, he’ll freak. 😉
So, as I reflect now on how life just kind of takes hold and off we go, living it, I wonder why we don’t focus more on how we raise our children. Do we take time to really appreciate what we have and work out how to be the best we can be within that?
If we think about it, at work we create business plans, set personal goals, attend professional development, but do we do that with parenting? If you do, I’m congratulating you now! If you don’t, you aren’t alone.
I used to babysit children when I was young all the time, and my dream was to have my own children, I then worked in early childhood, because I loved being around children. I still do! So why, when it came to my own children and to living that dream as a reality, had I just begun taking it for granted?
Today my son told me that he was being teased at school for having a Paw Patrol eraser. He used to love Paw Patrol and it was so sweet how he sang the song and acted out the show. Now I’m sure he will move past that and ‘grow-up’ just a little bit more. When I pick him up this afternoon, he’ll be older, and things will have changed again.
Thinking often about your parenting why is really helpful to keep your focus on enjoying the time you have. It can even help to reduce the struggle in the middle of the night when they’ve wet the bed or need a feed. If you remember that this time is important and that really this is a dream come true, you can handle it a bit better. And let me tell you, being Narcoleptic with interrupted sleep is not great, but you can experience it in a different way if you are present and know your parenting why.
What is your parenting why?
In my Parenting on Hourglass Time Program we unpack this and develop a Strategic Parenting Plan which is lots of fun and helps you to stay focused on your why.
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