06/07/2018
Lazy parents raise better kids
I posted a photo of our 13 year old doing her end of the month calculations. She handles our household grocery budget each month. I was shocked at how many messages I got telling me she was too young to have so much responsibility. They labeled me a lazy mom and I took it as a compliment (though Iâm not sure thatâs how it was meant lol).
Iâm purposefully lazy and my kids are thriving because of it. I have more energy than most, I could easily handle everything for them but I donât because I want them to learn to do it for themselves.
I love the harsh, judgmental looks and comments I get from other parents when they see my kids doing things deemed âtoo hardâ for them. âWhat a lazy mom. Those poor kids,â they whisper. Yea, well they can judge me all they want but Iâm preparing my kids to not need me. And I personally believe thatâs the greatest gift I can give them.
I think we severely underestimate our children. They are far more capable and dependable than we will allow them to be. Most of us are over-scheduled control freaks and we donât create the time we need to let our kids try and fail and then try again. Weâre too busy to be lazy and itâs hurting our kids. Children that are treated like they are capable become capable.
And it starts small...it starts with the toddler who wants to help do the dishes and you end up with a tsunami in your dish room or the 4 year old who wants to take the trash out when youâre on our way out the door- it takes 20 minutes instead of the 2 it would have taken you because the trash bag is the same size as them, it got a hole in it cause it was dragging the ground and you pretty much have to sanitize their whole body now cause theyâve somehow managed to touch every part of the trash bag. Now youâre late for your appointment but your kid is feeling empowered and damn it, that needs to be worth it.
It takes patience and determination to be a lazy parent. Because the way they do it wonât be perfect (at first), theyâll make ungodly messes, it will be crooked and mismatched, things will break, and it will likely take 4 times longer than if you just did it yourself. And itâs hard to watch them struggle, we love them and we want to make life easy for them. But life isnât easy, itâs fu***ng hard and we are doing them a great disservice when we donât let them struggle and prove to themselves that they are little badasses.
Ive noticed a lot of people wait because they are going to get hurt, they donât have time or they like their house to stay looking magazine worthy and a 3 year old learning to organize their own space or make their own breakfast has rough edges.
The struggle is real, but you simply need to get over it because raising capable adults doesnât start at age 16 when they canât do anything for themselves, it start at age 3 when they need you to back off and let them make a tsunami in your dish room.
Do yourself and your kids a favor and be a lazy parent. Back off and let them try.
Brooke Hampton,
âlazy mom of three wildly capable humansâ
