Parenting, as you know, is a bizarre occupation to get oneself involved in. Whether we do it willingly or by sudden occurrence, there is no running away from it!. It will have us on our knees, clawing at the walls in frustration in one instance and then speechless with emotion at the sudden beauty of a baby’s gurgle to a child’s warm “I love you” hug. Being a parent, is without a doubt the greatest decision that you will ever make in your life, every other personal achievement, in my opinion pales at the brilliance of your child before you. Therefore, I wish my parenting days to be only sprinkled with brilliance and greatness. I wish for easy meals times with everyone getting along, for homework to always be done, for bedtimes to never be questioned and talking back to vanish with a smile. Please don’t look at me cynically fellow parents of mine. I am all too aware of the reality of our situation, the haphazard and loud mealtimes, the innumerable petty squabbles, the tantrums at every instance and of course my broken record of bedtime calls. As a human I go through many emotions in sometimes a single hour which really questions my mentally stability, but then again, as parents this is our normal way of life.

The optimist that am I feel, our parenting days can be and should be better. It surely is getting tedious starting your day in frustration and eventually ending with my good humor in tatters. These are after all the important years of my life, they should be spent in carefree happiness. But the reality is that children are disobedient and their ideas on what should be done in a normal day is very different from yours. But as parents we can get through this and with our good humor intact. If we carefully follow the parenting mantras, repeat them continuously throughout the day you will be surprised at how your good humor remains intact and in fact you might even start to enjoy yourself. Here are the very important parenting mantras to follow by all parents or anyone who comes into contact with children.

1. As the famous saying goes, “This too shall pass”, initially might have stemed from a religious point of view. This saying is definitely apt for the everyday parent. My child is going through a phase where she only eats orange food, parenting mantra to be repeated several times, This too shall pass. My children always squabble for the front seat, repeat it continuously, this too shall pass. You get the picture, this particular mantra will help you overlook the general household pandemonium and look forward to more blissful times in the parenting journey.

2. Be happy with what you have and what you have done. In our hurried, busy days, we always pine away for how things could be better. The staff could be more helpful, the house could be more cleaner, the chores not so harried and in complete. But don’t fret about what hasn’t happened, be thankful to what you can do and what you have done, that is more than enough.

3. Be here now. Usually my parenting days is constantly looking towards the next task at hand, when’s the next class, who needs to taken to what etc etc, my watch and I are the best of friends. I tap finger my way through dance lessons, swimming practices and so forth, instead why not think about slowing down, enjoying the moment, nothing needs to rushed, you will get to it eventually, enjoy what you have here and now.

4. Enjoy it, because it is happening now. Some days I look at my chocolate finger smeared white walls, at the frazzled embroidered cushion covers and my sorry state of a house and wonder what happened. But someday the finger prints will be washed off never to return and your house will be beautifully decorated but echoing in lonely childless rooms. So they will be gone soon, all grown up and new adventures to discover, enjoy them now.   

5. I can let go of this. Parenting is never successful in the first attempt, you can fail, but you do have the beauty of doing it again. There will be things that you can never change, our children have they own personalities, their own ideas and dreams. Sometimes it is best to help them along rather than fight what can never be. The ability to let go of things we can’t change will only help us move forward with renewed purpose.

These are just a few of the many parenting mantras out there, by they are the key and the most important that will help you get over the your hazardous day. Repeat them to yourself constantly, they are the key to your sanity and salvation.  

By Mayuri Jayasinghe