They say kids don’t come with an owner’s manual. And that’s precisely why—as any parent can tell you—an army of experts has stepped up to try to write one.
Seemingly endless advice is pumped out by what one writer calls the “Parenting Industrial Complex.” There are podcasts and stand-up specials and best-sellers about parenting. We envy the way they do it in France and The Netherlands and Mexico. Our children are orchids or dandelions or spirited or out of sync. We anxiously worry that we, as parents, are becoming helicopters or lawnmowers or snowplows. We’re told we need to look at our children’s whole brains and wrestle them (like, physically, to the ground) and wear them out for a while but then, just a few short years later, take them to danger playgrounds.
Google the phrase “Parenting Tips” and guess how many hits pop up? 291…MILLION. (Our beloved Cat & Nat hilariously capture the maddening amount of advice aimed at moms in particular in this video, which is a straight-up gift to the universe.)
So how do you cut through the noise and unearth some information that’s actually helpful? We find the most actionable advice tends to be the simplest (because we’re honestly too tired to remember anything hard). That’s why we love this behavior management tip from Positive Parenting author Rebecca Eanes:
