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Parenting Mantras

Earlier this week, I was excited to be part of my first live Google+ Hangout.  I joined Melitsa from Raising Playful Tots and Kate from Picklebums to talk about parenting mantras. (Just a warning, there are some sound issues in the video)’




It all arose from this Google+ discussion in the Slow Parenting :: Simple Parenting community about parenting mantras. 

What is a parenting mantra?

 As we discuss in the hangout, a parenting mantra is a short phrase, a one-liner, that you can use to keep you calm or defuse a tricky parenting situation. 

Some parenting mantras are something you say in your head to help you:
This too shall pass
Pick your battles
Some are things that you can say, without much thought, when tricky situation happen:
You get what you get
Fair is not equal
I discovered the power of these mantras last year and have been collecting them ever since.  I find you need to collect lots of ideas. Some mantras will fit with you straight away and be easy to remember and use. Other mantras just won’t work for you.

You can find more ideas for parenting mantras that you can use in the original Google+ discussion (including in the links posted in that discussion), the hangout video and in this post Kate wrote about the hangout.

Do you use parenting mantras?  If yes, I’m still collecting new ideas, so, what are your favourites?
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Bethany said…
Some of my go-tos: for me - "savor this", "i can do what I can do", "smile". For my daughter - "would you like to cry in your room?", "what did I say?", "the snack alarm hasn't gone off yet", "do you need a hug?", "it's hard to be a toddler, isn't it?" Wow, all of these look so sarcastic typed out, but when I say them with compassion they smooth out so many wrinkles in my toddler's day and mine. One other discovery I've made that's saved my bacon is probably my favorite mantra: when I'm at my rope's end and ready to snap at my daughter, instead I exclaim, "you're a delightful girl!" The first time I said this in the heat of the moment, I meant it to be dripping with sarcasm, but by the last word of it my frustration had melted away and was replaced by appreciative affection. Every time since, I've started to say it as a sarcastic comment, and it always ends as a genuine love-filled compliment. It totally diffuses her frustration (which was what caused my frustration in the first place) and mine at the same time! I can't believe how simple a solution it is, capable of turning an escalating verbal storm into a flurry of hugs and giggles.
January 30, 2013 at 10:03 AM
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