[54] This is How to Enjoy Your Child More By Doing Less

Do you ever find yourself struggling with an abundance of toys or trying to figure out activities for your child?

It's easy to get overwhelmed, but the truth is it doesn't have to be difficult.

In this episode of the Real Happy Mom Podcast my guest shows how to enjoy your child more by doing less.

Listen to the full episode above or check the previously published post below.

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About Jenny

Jenny is a journalist and mother that teaches about parenting from a different angle.

Jenny has taken time to research and find parenting practices that allow parents and children to have more peace.

By looking at history Jenny has found basic principles for parenting that allow parents to do less and enjoy their child more.

Evolution of parenting

Humans have evolved over the last 200,000 years without toys, without any stores that had toys, or Pinterest that had activities for kiddos.

We have thrived without toys.

So when did this need for toys start?

When Jenny looks back on her research she finds that at the start of the industrial revolution is when toys became available.

Jenny also notes that happiness started to decrease at the same time as well.

This is also around the time that many parenting books came out that encouraged self-soothing and the thought that children need to be ignored so that you don’t spoil them.

And so in place of that, we actually stopped honoring the most important thing that a child needs, which is a secure attachment to their parent or to their primary caregiver.

And we started to give them toys and materials in place of that, which is the lousiest replacement.

An Alternative Parenting Style 

Jenny has been working hard to let parents know that you don’t have to stress yourself with purchasing toys and finding activities for your kids.

News flash. Jenny doesn’t set up any activities for her daughter. And her daughter is learning and having fun every day.

What she does is utilize RIE parenting. RIE parenting stands for Respectful Infant Educarer Parenting.

RIE Parenting was created by Magda Gerber in the 1980s but was inspired by a Hungarian pediatrician, Emmi Pikler.

He observed children thrive when they just played freely and unstructured in their environment.

He also found that kids learn casually not testing by testing.

Children were learning their alphabet by singing songs versus testing them with posters on the wall.

So if we look inside of our houses, we have measuring cups. Those are stacking toys, right?

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