2020 was a year that will go down in parenting history.
- Schools closed
- Parents working from home
- Homeschooling
- No youth activities or athletics
- Museums, amusement parks and theaters closed
Simply put, 2020 proved that what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger.
Parenting is always full of challenges and rewards, but this year that was taken to the extreme.
Many families spent the past 6 months facing tight budgets, close quarters and more responsibilities than we have ever anticipated.
Scrolling through our social media feeds it was plain to see what every parent was feeling: “This is impossible. I can’t do all of this!”
Parents everywhere realized that it was all too much:
- Too much stress
- Too much homework
- Too many expectations
- Too many messes to clean up and too much laundry to do
And that moment is when the shift happened.
As parents everywhere hit their breaking point, the solution became clear: the answer to all of the stress and overwhelm was less.
- Less stressing over things that really don’t matter
- Less focus on acquiring and spending
- Less time spent apart and more time spent together
And as the shift happened you started to see and hear the power of this mindset change.
Parents were bonding with their children at the dinner table.
Families were shifting their priorities and realizing that a hectic schedule filled with enrichment activities may have been doing their children more harm than good.
Mothers discovered that simplifying and decluttering their homes was providing more time and freedom to take care of everything else.
After decades of our society and culture telling us that “more” was going to make us happy, we discovered that the exact opposite was true.
How Choosing Less Will Give Us More in 2021
And while many of us were completely caught off guard by this realization, it should come as no surprise.
After all, there is research that shows that a minimalist, or more simple lifestyle does increase happiness.
So as parents transition into the new year with the hopes of returning to normalcy, we will also move forward with a new understanding of how to create a happy home.
We now see that more was not making us happier after all.
- We noticed that our children don’t need a room full of toys to be playful.
- We felt our families becoming closer with less distraction and fewer events.
- We see that our priorities were influenced by marketers and commercialism and that led us in the wrong direction.
So as we enter 2021 we have become better parents through the challenges that we have faced.
- We are closer to our families that ever before.
- We have clarified our priorities and values and aligned our choices and actions accordingly.
- We know that no matter what challenges come in the future that we have the abilities to adapt, learn and grow to get through them together.
And most importantly we have learned that we don’t to spend more, make more or do more in order for this to happen.
That it is in fact, doing less, spending less and having less that has made us better parents in the end.