Areas to Apply Minimalism In as a First-Time Parent

In the parenting world, there’s probably just so much unsolicited advice from the people that surround you. Alternatively, maybe even equally as many resources that you consume to try to get this parenting thing work out. But for a first-time parent like me, it can get a tad bit overwhelming. And after a year of parenting, here are some of the things (tangible or not) that I believe we all need to consciously re-evaluate ourselves of bringing into our home, and where the idea of “ less is more” is more applicable than ever before. So from one learning parent to another, I’ll be sharing with you five things where we can apply minimalism and more intentionality in our own homes. 

1. Toys

Now toys have been labeled as any kid essential because they promote play. And in the Montessori philosophy, “play is the work of a child”. And any early childhood philosophy, approach, or research would attest to how important play is because it promotes creativity, learning, and independence in the child. Pro tip: Rotate your child’s toys! It forces your child to be creative with the ‘toys’ that are available to them and keeps the novelty of the hidden toys when you bring them out from the closet. But honestly, our kid more often than not finds the weirdest random things in the house more interesting than the toys we set up for them (random empty toilet roll? Let’s goooo.)  That’s normal and ok!

2. Praises

Did you know that the normal standard praises such as “you’re so smart,” “so clever,” “good job,”, can actually diminish the ‘intrinsic drive’ in your child to continuously perform in life? These standardized praises make your child believe in something they cannot fully control and are vague words to describe what exactly it is they are ‘smart’ or how they are doing a ‘good job’ of. Pro tip: Focus on a ‘growth mindset’ type of praises, such as telling them what they actually were able to do (such as “you did it!”), or instilling in them their own sense of pride for what they were able to do like “aren’t you proud of yourself?” so that they won’t have to rely on your presence to validate their sense of worth. 

3. Screen Times

Now, if you’re a parent that’s okay/uses screen time for educational purposes, that’s fine. You go do you. But as the title of this blog post suggests, less is always more. Screen time is highly discouraged for babies less than 2 years old, it overstimulates them and gives them lesser opportunities to spark their inner creative juices. Pro tip: if you’re a parent that already uses screen time, make it part of their routine with a firm X number of minutes.  As with everything else, establish early on your boundaries with screen time usage and gently but firmly stick to them. 

4. Choices

Especially during the toddler stage, you and your child might be facing a whole long journey towards power struggle city. They’re trying to exercise their independence, they’re developing their own ways of thinking and their personality as a human. So them saying no and throwing tantrums at the slightest thing is actually a sign of healthy brain development! Giving them choices early on is a way of promoting their independence, but it might get a bit too overwhelming if they’re forced to choose the big stuff such as bedtime, or the menu for today’s lunch. So my pro tip here? Give them two choices you’ll be perfectly happy to have them choose from, and age-appropriate decisions in the house (such as what pajamas to wear for bedtime, what plate color to use for mealtimes, etc.). 

5. Rules

Our kids have it rough, with us saying “no” to them almost all the time, and us expecting them to obey so many rules and expectations to “behave” all the time. But it can honestly get exhausting for us to constantly repeat so many rules and regulations in the house, and mark my words, if we bend those so-called rules ourselves, they’ll remember them and use all sorts of tactics to bend the rules even more. My pro tip here? Have a few firm ground rules that you and your partner agree on. This set of rules must be applicable to your own family. Some examples of these ground rules are like when playing, it’s okay to disagree and argue but absolutely no hitting/pushing. Key tip to remember: a definitive number of firm ground rules is better than an endless number of rules that more often than not get ignored. 

So there you have it. Five simple things that you can limit in your home and be more intentional in actually bringing to your home. Hope this resonates with you! Comment down below any more things you think are better with the ‘less is more’ approach to help out our mamas and Dadas. Happy parenting!