Are you an overachieving parent?

Are you?  If you are, I am in awe of you! If you are, you might want to rethink what you're doing.  I feel for parents today with the easy access of social media.  Just the Elf on the Shelf pictures people post are enough to put me over the edge. I wonder if it's more for the parent or the child.  If it stresses  you out stop it!   If you are on Pinterest, it doesn't take long to feel like you are the most inept parent.  No longer do we just have birthday parties.  We have themes.  I don't mean themes represented by the napkins, cups, plates and cake.  No! Now, we turn our house into a jungle for the jungle birthday party and everyone dresses up!  We make tents, not out of old blankets draped over the furniture, but themed fabric to match the bedroom - sewn by the child and parent as a bonding experience.

I don't mean to put anyone down if that's your thing, but goodness do we really need to paint fairy windows and doors on the trees in the backyard?  Not all of us are Martha Stewart nor do we need to make all of our children's toys out of pine cones.

My point is for those of us trying to do everything we read about, see on Pinterest or wherever, we need to slow down for 2 reasons.   The first reason is that kids really just want us to talk and play with them, read a book to them, be in the moment with them.  The second reason is that if everything is fairy dust, Pinterest and over the top, kids begin to expect it.  They expect to be wowed at every turn.  It's like on Halloween when you are low on candy and you start giving out 1 piece of candy. The child looks at you like, really!  That's all!

I spent today at the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) conference. It is a great experience to be around people from all over the world who truly care about what's best for young children.   Hopefully the facility or school that cares for your child was there.   If that person is you, go to their website.   The common thread was making parents realize they are their child's first teacher.  Once that is understood, helping parents realize how easy it is, and important it is to talk to your child.

I know when you are at the play date and everyone is sharing how they whittled a busy box out of wood, chains and light switches (you know stuff they just happened to have laying around), it's hard to say, we just played and talked.  But really, playing and talking is what is important.

So take a deep breath, get off Pinterest, go play and talk to your child.