{"id":1764,"date":"2013-09-24T12:32:42","date_gmt":"2013-09-24T19:32:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.littlebrowne.com\/?p=1764"},"modified":"2013-09-24T12:32:42","modified_gmt":"2013-09-24T19:32:42","slug":"the-secret-to-being-a-happy-parent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.threeadventure.com\/littlebrowne\/2013\/09\/24\/the-secret-to-being-a-happy-parent\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret to Being a Happy Parent"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Be<\/a>
Be Happy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Give up.<\/h3>\n

That\u00e2??s my grand advice on how to be a happy parent. You see, I don\u00e2??t know that there really are a lot of \u00e2??happy<\/a>\u00e2?\u009d parents. You can sit and play games with what the definition of happy is but let\u00e2??s just use it in general speak. Before I continue I will say that I do think there are happy parents but I think the largest percentage of parents are not happy as much as we could be.<\/p>\n

For many or most of us, that moment when we become a parent to that amazingly beautiful bundle of joy\u00e2?\u00a6we are completely stoned. Don\u00e2??t get me wrong, I remember so much of the first three months of Sammy\u00e2??s life but holy crappola Batman\u00e2?\u00a6I was in a fog thicker than Snoop Lion, Cheech, and Chong combined. I was a Will Farrell-esque mime trapped in a glass case of emotion and I didn\u00e2??t even get the drugs Annie got.<\/p>\n

What does all that mean? It means that for the first three months I was just coming down off the high of meeting a human that changed my life as I knew it\u00e2?\u00a6and will continue to do so.<\/p>\n

Of course I was happy but mostly I was speechless, in awe, terrified, second guessing, and preparing for stuff but never knew what that \u00e2??stuff\u00e2?\u009d was. When you have a child there is this huge sense (for many of us) of urgency, love, fear, and \u00e2??what am I doing and am I doing it right\u00e2?\u009d. By the way, when I say fear I was actually afraid of him\u00e2?\u00a6still am some days. So here you are, this massive urge and need to do right by this little helpless thing but absolutely no manual on how to do that and what \u00e2??do right\u00e2?\u009d really payday loans online no fax<\/a> means.<\/p>\n

We got a lot of tips from people and from different books or articles we read but the one thing I never heard was \u00e2??give up\u00e2?\u009d. I really think the key to parenting is to give up. I think the key to being a happy parent is to give up.<\/p>\n

How to be a Happy Parent<\/h3>\n

We need to give up all these expectations we hold ourselves to and just be in the moment.<\/p>\n

We need to give up all the second guessing\u00e2?\u00a6it will kill you.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on listening to others and all the wonderfully \u00e2??free advice\u00e2?\u009d.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on the idea of \u00e2??perfect parenting\u00e2?\u009d and \u00e2??perfect children\u00e2?\u009d.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on the idea that we will not screw them up the way our parents screwed us up.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on comparing our parenting skills to other parents.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on comparing our child to other children (who cares that that kid crawled first, I\u00e2??m sure our kid will be worth more money by the time he\u00e2??s 30).<\/p>\n

We need to give up on NOT trusting ourselves and our instincts as parents.<\/p>\n

We need to give up on all those idiotic \u00e2??extreme parents\u00e2?\u009d that battle it out all the time over such issues as vaccinations, formula versus breast milk, the brand of diaper you use, and so on. Screw them\u00e2?\u00a6YOU ARE DOING JUST FINE!!!<\/p>\n

There\u00e2??s really only one thing you can\u00e2??t give up on\u00e2?\u00a6and that\u00e2??s your kiddo. There will be moments where walking away and giving up for a second will be worth it to save your sanity\u00e2?\u00a6but all in all you just have to stop letting the doubt, the questions, the fear, or the frustration dictate or run the show. Just chill. Just be. You\u00e2??re doing fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Give up. That\u00e2??s my grand advice on how to be a happy parent. You see, I don\u00e2??t know that there really are a lot…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","filesize_raw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[78,79,133],"class_list":{"0":"post-1764","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-fatherhood","7":"tag-happiness","8":"tag-happy-parent","9":"tag-parenting","10":"entry","11":"has-post-thumbnail"},"yoast_head":"\nThe Secret to Being a Happy Parent - Little Browne<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Give up. 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