When I was a full-time career gal with no kids, I looked forward to the month of January more than any other. As exciting as the holidays are, for many it comes with an exhausting price tag, so I always looked forward to the beginning of the year to unwind and just “be.” Not only does January offer a clean slate with which to kick the year off, I also find it a very low-key time of year when there don’t seem to be as many social pressures or commitments from the outside world. It’s like a mini vacation from life.
Now that I’ve been parenting for over two decades the month of January is even more important. It’s a time to let go of what wasn’t working in my role as a mom, and focus on areas that may need a bit of freshening up. Thanks to the fascinating trends that emerge during each New Year, there are some really cool and interesting patterns being tracked that can benefit all areas of life, including parenting.
Here are five influential trends to be on the lookout for this year that can help make a positive impact in your parenting life during 2018.
- Trend #1: Getting Unplugged
- Trend #2: Time Savvy Hacks
- Trend #3: Eco-Friendly Toys
- Trend #4: Making Time to be Selfish
- Trend #5: Encouraging Body Neutrality
Let's explore all in more detail.
Trend #1: Getting Unplugged
When I was pregnant with my first child, I worried how in the heck I’d be able to alert my husband if I went into labor unexpectedly while he was off on a business trip or down the road shopping for my daily dose of pickles and ice cream. This was back in 1994 when cell phones were barely in existence and couples rented pagers from the hospital as a means of communicating to their partner that their water had broke!
Jump ahead two decades and the statistics are staggering. In 2017, the number of smartphone users in the United States was estimated to reach 224.3 million, with the number of smartphone users worldwide forecast to exceed 2 billion users.
Families have become completely dependent (addicted, even) to their phones. It’s rare to glance into a room full of people and not see the majority of them without their cell phone in the palm of their hand or very close, texting, emailing, shopping, or otherwise engrossing themselves in social media. Well, look for that to change a bit in 2018 as more families commit to unplugging and putting their phones away for regular blocks of time throughout the week so they can connect with one another in person.
My kids and I made a list of 20 things we could trade for non-phone time: walk our puppy on the beach, play cribbage and chess, make homemade ice cream, and watch videos of the kids when they were babies, just to name a few. We’re making a pact to carve out regular time every week to stay away from our phones and find more time for each other.
Trend #2: Time Savvy Hacks
One buzzword that hasn’t lost its momentum over the past few years is the word hack. The completely brilliant term “life hack” was coined in 2004 by technology journalist Danny O'Brien to showcase the humorous shortcuts tech professionals used to complete their work. Now we gravitate towards anything that mentions a hack because of the savvy and creative ways we can save time, energy, and money when we take advantage of these clever ideas to make life easier.
Parents will forever be juggling family life, work, running a household, and making time to care for their personal relationships and themselves, so time-saving hacks are more important than ever. 2018 will continue down the path of all things “hacked” so jump on board by discovering ways you can take advantage of some of these great ideas that will benefit your family.
One of my favorite hacks—cook once and double up. Cooking for a family of 10 is beyond daunting, so years ago I acted on a great meal-making hack which was to pick one day of the week to prepare all my meals and double up on a couple of the recipes to freeze for future use. Sunday afternoons are my meal prep day. I prepare about four dishes that will store easily in the fridge so when I get home from work, I pick one and heat it up. By doubling a couple of the recipes I always have “go to” meals in my freezer. The time commitment is well worth the luxury of never having to scurry at dinner time!
Trend #3: Eco-Friendly Toys
Being kind to the environment is a hot trend that’s not going away anytime soon, and in 2018 families will be gravitating to toys of yesteryear such as Lincoln logs, good ol' fashioned wooden blocks, and other eco-friendly play sets that welcome a child to use his/her imagination rather than being glued to a screen.
Trend #4: Making Time to Be Selfish
Having parented for nearly 25 years now, the day I turned the parenting corner and went from being agitated and resentful to inspired and more at peace was when I stopped being a martyr and learned that it was OK to take time for myself.
In my episode on reasons to embrace parenting later in life, I specifically refer to the importance of making self-care a priority. “There will never be a perfect parenting regimen, but there can be a much better balance if you’re willing to make tradeoffs in certain areas of your life. A large part of the successful balance equation is when Mom finally realizes that she must tune into her own emotions as well as her physical and mental health requirements. We have a fear that doing anything else might be considered a failure in this role.”
With self-care trending in 2018, it’s the perfect time to do a self-evaluation and see how much time you devote to nurturing your own needs throughout the week. Nobody can do this for you but you, so commit to carving out regular niches of time that are strictly off limits to the rest of the world, regardless of how small it may seem.
One of my favorite escapes is a library that is a couple of towns away. It’s peaceful and free and because it’s not in my neighborhood, I can hang out and read a magazine, write, or just peruse the shelves for a great read without bumping into anyone I know!
See also: 5 Ways that Selfish Parenting can Benefit Your Family
Trend #5: Encouraging Body Neutrality
Though the world we live in is definitely consumer-driven, particularly in the beauty and fashion industries, we are also witnessing many more platforms that encourage today’s women (and men!) to be more accepting and at peace with their physical appearance and body image.
Popular now is a concept called “body neutrality” explained here as “the idea that you feel relaxed (aka neutral) about your body and don’t have to celebrate it at every turn.” The article also states that “the movement encourages you to spend less energy thinking about your body, good or bad, and just focus on being comfortable in your own skin.”
"Body neutrality" is the concept of feeling relaxed about your body and being comfortable in your own skin.
I am loving this trend, not only as a parenting tool but as a reminder to myself.
One of the reasons we can easily get down on ourselves when it comes to body image is because we are so inclined to compare how we look with others. It’s easy to do this without even realizing it. For instance, when you drop your kids off at school, you might be “that mom” wearing pajama bottoms under a winter coat, topped off with your husband’s stained baseball hat, and naturally you will bump into the new mom at the PTO who looks incredible in her tailored linen slacks and a super-stylish cashmere beret. Of course her skin is flawless while you have crow’s feet gracing your eyes.
Enough already! If we aren’t making healthy choices (exercising regularly, drinking more water, not inhaling sugar all day long) then it’s time to start taking better care of our bodies and promote a healthier lifestyle. However, we can’t all be long, slender, super-model material, yet we still have an amazing body that pumps blood through our veins, gives us a brain to think with, legs to walk with, arms to hug our kids with, and a mouth that allows us to eat and share our smiles.
Make 2018 the year you embrace your beautiful self and be a better role model in front of your children about your self-image by only making positive comments about your body. What a great gift to share with your children—appreciating who you are and how you look right here in the present instead of worrying about what you could look like in the future.
What trends are you following for 2018? Share your thoughts in the comments section at http://ift.tt/1zMEe2L, post your ideas on the Mighty Mommy Facebook page. or email me at mommy@quickanddirtytips.com. Visit my family-friendly boards at http://ift.tt/1wyJKr5
Image of a family © Shutterstock
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