Lemons to lemonade: 5 ways to turn your parenting struggles into wins
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade right? Of course children aren’t lemons, but some challenging phases CAN have you feeling a bit sour. Time to change that perspective!
Here are 5 clever (but very doable) ideas for how to turn those tough times into positive wins.
1. Cuddle your way through a cold
When your little one is under the weather, it’s hard to see him suffer, and it can also be extremely challenging for parents at the same time – especially at night. At these moments forget about the routines and anything else that needs to be done, and just embrace the extra cuddle time instead. Use it as an opportunity to bond more with your baby as he leans on you for comfort and support, because before you know it, he’ll be all grown up and not wanting hugs anymore. Some parents with independent babies and toddlers even find that it’s only when they’re sick that they want to be held! If your child goes to preschool, ditch work guilt and take the opportunity to enjoy that day off at home with your little one instead.
2. Cluster feed … on Netflix
Have a bub who just wants to breastfeed ALL THE TIME? Use it as an excuse to catch up on all those awesome Netflix shows you’ve been meaning to get around to. Because if you’re chained to the couch already you may as well flick on the box right? Just keep the volume quite low – and if it’s nighttime, also the lights. You might even find you miss the excessive breastfeeding once this stage passes!
3. Rock into exercise
Have you got a baby with shocking reflux or one who needs to be rocked to sleep? Do what Jenna Dewan Tatum did and turn it into a workout! After the birth of her daughter, Jenna turned each 40 minute bedtime rocking session into a fitness regime where she added squats and lunges – all while her daughter drifted off to sleep!
If your baby won’t sleep in the cot during the day, another good thing to do is to get out the sling or pram and take the opportunity to pound that pavement. Who says you don’t have time to exercise?!
4. Too tired? Time for takeaway!
When the lack of sleep is just getting too much to handle give yourself a break and dial in dinner. You’re a mother with a small child for crying out loud! Use that extreme tiredness as a chance to get your favourite yummy meal cooked by someone else, with no mess and delivered fresh to your door – you don’t even have to get out of your pyjamas if you don’t want to! There has to be some perks to getting no sleep, right?
5. Leftovers for little ones
If you have other slightly older children, use their food fussiness to your advantage and give whatever they don’t want to eat to your baby. In the food experimenting stage, babies will most likely give anything a try and then you won’t have to make an extra dinner – score! Added bonus too if you have a dog – just let them munch up all the scraps off the floor; it saves yet another meal to put out AND you won’t have to clean all the mess up!
This post was originally published on 28 June 2017.
