Change is hard. It’s so hard. Adults have a hard enough time making changes for ourselves and when we add in the pushback from children who don’t understand and don’t want to and don’t have the same intrinsic motivation it gets even harder.
The result? Overwhelm leads to paralysis. We get so confused by conflicting information and feel the weight of so many obstacles on our shoulders and then we just don’t do anything at all because it’s too hard. And it’s true. Doing it all is impossible.
As busy parents I feel the only way to make changes in any area is to compartmentalize. What do I mean? Split your conflicting parts into sections. Just as an example let’s say you choose the following
1. Food
2. Toxins
3. Behavior
4. Serving Others/Faith
Instead of focusing so much on ALL of the things we can improve upon all in one basket, splitting it up makes things a bit more palatable.
Now that you’ve made your list, it’s time to choose ONE focus for each area to start right now. Don’t stress too much, just think of a small win that you can actually DO right now.
For example:
1. Food- We will grill out on Sunday evening and cook extra to turn into stirfry on Tuesday evening OR swap lunch box sandwiches and chips for turkey rolls and pea crisps
2. Toxins- I will replace a traditional chemical cleaning product with a natural solution like Raise Them Well Clean It Well OR replace Miralax with a more natural solution like Mag Go (while focusing on #1 too)
3. Behavior- This week our focus is obeying right away. I will focus my discipline around obedience both with rewards and punishments OR I will try positive reinforcement with a new sticker chart.
4. Serving- This week our family will spend time in prayer for another family in need OR on Friday evening we will serve together at a local soup kitchen and then discuss our call to love others.
See. It’s not quite so overwhelming right? When we have 4 focuses instead of 4000 and they are defined it makes it SO much easier to actually DO the things and stick with them.
And maybe it’s a crazy season for you. Maybe 4 categories is 3 too many. That’s ok. Pick ONE. Just ONE. And honestly the easiest one mentioned here is probably Clean It Well. Have you tried It yet?
Here’s my recent video all about Clean It Well and how to prepare it so it’s ready for ALL of your messes. I recently used it to remove washed AND dried gum out of my son’s shorts. I could not believe how well it worked!