Ep. 69: Happier Parenting

<p><a href="https://talkingtoteens.com/happier-parenting/">Click for full show notes, exercises, and parenting scripts from this episode</a></p><p><br></p><p>In the hustle of parenting teens—driving then from activity to activity, keeping an eye on their screen time, feeding them, checking their grades, nagging them about homework—a lot of parents look around and realize, <em>it isn’t fun</em>. Where did things start to go sideways?</p><p>Many parents, feeling like this pattern of stressful parenting is <em>not</em> what they signed up for. So they make a list of all the things they could do to insert more fun into parenting…only to realize that that would be a awful lot of extra work.</p><p>This is exactly what KJ Dell’Antonia, author of <a href="https://amzn.to/2U4uHHZ"><em>How to Be a Happier Parent: Raising a Family, Having a Life, and Loving (Almost) Every Minute of It</em></a>, discovered on her parenting journey. Instead of trying to insert fun things into her already packed family schedule, KJ decided what she really needed was some more happiness.</p><p>The first step to becoming a happier parent is to step back from the martyr mindset: the belief that, as the parent, everyone else’s needs come before your own. The martyr mindset is a sure-fire way to be an unhappy parent because you will always always come last.</p><p>The second step is to take a look at all the activities you engage in and assess how to insert some more happiness. Maybe that means you get a carpool going with some fellow parents to avoid spending 5 hours driving to and from your kid’s club sports practice. Or maybe it’s blocking off an hour or two on a Saturday to indulge in a hobby or long walk. Or maybe it’s inserting a new rule that no one is allowed to say dinner “looks gross.”</p><p>In my interview with KJ this week we discuss ideas and strategies around happier parenting, including:</p><ul> <li>How to avoid being “that parent”</li> <li>Dinner rules for increased happiness (and sanity)</li> <li>Why “all or nothing” is the