Five Minutes Peace: How Modern Parents Miss Out on Some Much-Needed Solitude -

You might be surprised to learn that many parents today actually spend longer with their kids each day than the stay-at-home moms of a previous era, but although you might not think that this was such an issue, it is a scenario that could turn out to be detrimental to the relationship you have with your children.

There is always the potential for a family crisis at some point in your life, such as suffering a personal injury and needing to make a claim for compensation, which you can find out about online at www.warriorsforjustice.com/fort-worth-personal-injury-lawyer/. Another issue that you might not see coming is a problem caused by what has become a modern parenting crisis.

More time together

A university study took a detailed look at the changing demands of parenting and found that back in 1965, the typical mother would have spent just under 40 minutes each actually actively engaged in teaching and playing with their kids.

They obviously spend more physical time with their children, but the study was trying to evaluate how much so-called quality time was spent nurturing the relationship and educating the children.

Some thirty years later and that quality time number had swelled to just over 2 hours. Father’s are taking a more active role in raising their children than ever before, which is certainly a positive trend when compared to previous generations, but there are considered to be implications attached to spending more time together.

A range of parenting styles

What we are now witnessing is today’s parents adopting one of a range of defined parenting styles, such as helicopter parenting, which is based on the belief that the needs and rights of your child are almost on an equal level to that of the parent.

Based on the premise that parents should be seen more as a friend to their children than their guardian, prioritizing their needs in this way will often result in parents spending an increasing amount of their time catering to the needs of their children at the expense and sacrifice of their own self-care.

A common characteristic amongst parents of all backgrounds is that they want to give their children the best possible start in life and will often consider doing anything for them to achieve that parental goal.

The issue with helicopter parenting and other defined parenting styles that tend to concentrate on the welfare of the children at the expense of anything else, is that if you don’t get some sort of break from being a parent for just a short period of time each day, it could actually have a detrimental impact on the effectiveness of your parenting and even cause you to suffer effects of emotional and physical stress.

We all need the opportunity to get some rest, clear our mind, and even pursue a hobby that we enjoy so that it keeps us in good mental and physical shape for our parenting challenges.

Avoid some classic parenting mistakes to get some much-needed solitude

In order to be able to get the sort of “me-time” that you need to recharge your batteries and be ready to give your child some quality time, it will probably be necessary to work on some parenting strategies that allow you to achieve some much-needed solitude.

A classic mistake that many of us will instantly recognize, is when you give in to your child’s demands in order keep them quiet and under control.

The problem with meeting these demands, such as giving them some sweets in the supermarket so you can get the shopping done, or allowing them to watch another program on the TV rather than deal with the tantrum, is that your child will learn that playing up gets them what they want, so they will probably try and do it more.

You will need to avoid giving in to their demands and also set some limits that have to be observed and adhered to. If you can do this and also avoid some other regular parenting mistakes, such as not following through on the consequences laid out for misbehavior, it will give them a chance to entertain themselves at times and be able to go with another trusted person without you worrying about them.

If you can work on getting quality over quantity, both you and your child should benefit, and you will also be able to get that five minutes of peace that you really need.

[info_box type=”pale_box”]Amber Hope writes about family life in her articles. A mom with grown-up kids, Amber uses her life experiences to come up with article topics which are relevant, and informative for a wide range of online readers.[/info_box]