How Visualization Techniques Can Improve Your Parenting

Over thirty years ago, I began my quest to become a mom. I had only been married a little over a year, but my desire to start a family was quite strong. The oldest of five siblings and someone who nurtured her dolls and began babysitting at the age of ten, I couldn’t wait to have a baby of my own to love and raise.

Though I longed for motherhood, my dream wasn’t to be right away. Nearly six years of infertility and one blessed adoption later, I finally achieved my long-awaited goal. Infertility is an emotionally painful experience. But thanks to an amazing tool I learned from my therapist—visualization—I was able to keep my positive momentum going until I finally became a mom. All these years later, I still practice the art of visualization. Parenting is certainly not the picnic I thought it would be, and this tool has helped me overcome even the most difficult of motherhood days.  

See also: 10 Essential Parenting Strategies for When Life’s Got You Down

What is Visualization?

Before I describe some of the best ways visualization can improve your parenting game, let’s discuss what visualization is. Also known as mental rehearsal, visualization is basically practicing to see a desired outcome, in your mind, before it actually happens.

In a 2018 study, researchers discovered that practicing a skill in your mind can help you master it when it comes time to actually perform the skill. That mental rehearsal means you imagine yourself doing a practice run to help improve the outcome when you do it for real. Mental rehearsal is a type of behavior called a covert behavior. Covert behaviors, like thinking and imagining, are things you do that no one else can experience except you.

Researchers discovered that practicing a skill in your mind can help you master it when it comes time to actually perform the skill.

Visualization can be used to prepare yourself for a variety of potentially stressful situations like taking an exam, giving a speech, asking for a raise, and competing in sports. (Pro golfer Tiger Woods has been using this method since he was a tween.) Psychology Today’s article about the power of visualization explains that “Seasoned athletes use vivid, highly detailed internal images and run-throughs of the entire performance, engaging all their senses in their mental rehearsal, and they combine their knowledge of the...

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